Primeval
by TheNightManager
Summary: Judy Hopps' life takes an unexpected turn when anomalies, portals which links two differents place in spacetime, start to pop up in Zootopia, allowing dangerous creatures to roam into the present, only a few days after she moved there. Can she stop them with the help of the professor Nick Wilde? And what did really happen to his long-gone wife, Helen 'Skye' Wilde?
1. Episode 1: A Glow In The Forest

**EPISODE ONE: A GLOW IN THE FOREST**

 **RAINFOREST DISTRICT, 10 YEARS AGO**

The silence of the night was broken by an ear-splitting roar. A sound that hadn't been heard on Earth by hundreds of years.

An arctic vixen came out from the dense vegetation in a small clearing between the tall trees. Her once snow white fur was now covered with mud and some bleeding cuts.

She took a break from running to catch her breath. Her sky-blue eyes went wide as the thing chasing her roared again.

It was getting closer.

Panic was beginning to have the better on her: she was lost in the middle of that green maze, her legs and lungs aching from the running. Once again, she dove into the forest.

She could barely see the ground before her, as the thick foliage of the tall trees let a small amount of moonlight break through it. Another cry from the creature let her know that it was gaining ground.

When she had almost given up all hopes, she spotted it. A warm, glimmering light was shining just a few meters away. The vixen knew exactly what it was: her only chance to get away from there alive.

With nothing to loose, she sprinted toward it.

* * *

 **RAINFOREST DISTRICT, PRESENT DAY**

Emmitt Otterton loved hiking. Especially in that place.

Although most of the Rainforest District was made up of building which only recreated the environment of said forests, the most inner part was an actual natural park, the 'Forest of Dean', with real, tall trees, which extended for kilometres.

Being a florist, the otter loved being surrounded by this amount of vegetation,away from the noisy city and the crowded streets of Zootopia.

«Dad, come over here!» a voice brought him abruptly back to reality. Standing fifty meters in front of him, was an otter kit, waving his paws to gain his father's attention.

«I'm coming, Ted!» replied Emmit.

Ted was the younger of his two sons. His other son, Olly, and his wife, Octavia, had stayed home, as Olly had come down with a flu the day before.

«Look what I found, Dad!» Ted exclaimed proudly, pointing at something on the ground before him.

When Emmitt was close enough, he finally spotted his son's discovery: it was a small, bright-green lizard. The otter had never seen anything like that before: from the sides of its body, two fin-like protuberances sprout out. Were they... _wings?_

The small critter chirped, apparently not scared of the pair of mammals.

«What the heck are you supposed to be?» Emmitt asked the lizard, which only replied with another light squeak.

«Can I touch it?» Ted asked to his father, a pleading expression painted on his face.

«Hmm...I don't know, I think is better if we leave it be.»

Ted's ears lowered in disappointment. «Can I at least take a picture of it?»

«Yes, that sound fine to me» Emmitt replied with a smile.

With renewed excitement, Ted produced a smartphone from a pocket of his shorts, and activated the camera of the device. The kit pressed the round button on the lower half of the screen, and the device produced a small flash of light, taking a picture of the small lizard.

After that, the lizard behaviour suddenly changed from calm to agitated, checking its surroundings with small jerks of its head for a few seconds, before taking flight and quickly disappearing from the view of the amazed otters.

«Whoa! That was awesome!» Ted said excited.

«Yeah, it was. I wonder what startled it...» Emmit replied with a point of concern in his voice.

«It probably was just the flash»Ted said, shrugging his shoulders.

Then, a low, menacing growl came from the bushes behind them.

They both turned around, and what they saw made clear it hadn't been the flash to scare the lizard, but rather the imposing, threatening creature that was standing in front of them.

Their faces wore a mask of pure terror, whit their mouth open in a silent scream; the fear had paralysed both mammals, who stared as the mouth of the creature gaped, revealing blood-stained, sharp teeth.

* * *

 **PRECINCT ONE, TWO** **DAY LATER, 7:00 AM**

Judy once again was greeted by Clawhauser upon entering the ZPD headquarters.

"Hi Judy!" the overweight cheetah said cheerfully while munching a donuts.

"Hello Ben." She politely replied, although she was missing the positive attitude she had sported a few days earlier, when she had walked in the precinct for the first time.

In fact, she looked somewhat depressed, one could tell that by her droopy ears.

"Hey, is everything alright?" Benjamin asked, sincerely concerned.

"Yeah, sure. I'd love to chat with you, but I'm late for the briefing." The bunny replied, sounding not convincing at all.

In fact, everything had gone wrong during the past week.

Judy had finally fulfilled her dream, managing to become the first rabbit cop ever in Zootopia, only for her boss, Chief Bogo, to put her on parking duty every single day since her arrival.

Every. Single. Day.

Sure, her family was glad she was only a meter maid, but that was not what Judy had been working so hard to accomplish.

That, plus her noisy neighbors and her colleagues being quite cold with her, had began to slowly crack her determination and belief that 'everyone could be everything.'

Like every other morning, she entered the bullpen and sat in a chair way too big for her.

Chief Bogo arrived shortly after, hushing the noisy welcome given him by the officers.

The buffalo then proceeded to assign the daily task to the cops.

Judy, however, wasn't paying attention: she kept her head down, staring at the floor with resignation, ready to once again ride her 'joke-mobile' around the city.

That's why her ears perked up in surprise when Bogo assigned her to a missing mammal case.

But something was off: she knew that by the challenging smug spreading on Bogo's face, and by what he told her as he handed her the case file: "Since you like chasing impossible dreams, this should be in your wheelhouse."

Judy at first couldn't understand what he had meant with that.

She realized it when she read the words 'scary monster' on the report.

* * *

 **SAVANNA CENTRAL, 9:00**

 _"I can't believe it. Bogo has given me this case only to make me feel even more useless! Because it is so hopeless that no one else would have accepted it! How can someone be so..."_ Judy's thoughts proceeded describing the Chief with some pretty colorful expressions, before she finally arrived to her destination, a small house a few blocks away from the precinct.

Judy rang the bell.

The plate under it read 'Otterton'.

"Officer Hopps, ZPD" She announced to the door.

After a few seconds, it opened.  
Behind it, stood a female otter, a little shorter than Judy; her eyes were red from the prolonged crying.

"What can I do for you, Officer?" Asked Octavia Otterton.

"I'm hear for your husband. I'm on the case."

When Octavia heard those words, a big smile spread on her face and her eyes shone with joy.  
"Oh, thank you!" The otter shout while hugging Judy, who couldn't help but forget for a moment everything that had happened the previous days and feeling that maybe, even if only for that otter, she was making the world a better place.

Mrs. Otterton lead her inside, and made her sit on the sofa in the living room.

In that room, were two more mammals: one was a kit, who Judy recognized from the photos on the case file to be Ted, Emmitt's son and the last person to have seen him.  
The second one, however, she didn't know who she was: she was an otter as well, younger than Octavia, probably the same age as Judy's; she sported a white dyed lock of fur on top of her head.

"Officer Hopps, these are my son, Ted, and my sister, Abby." Mrs. Otterton introduced them.

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Judy" Judy replied smiling.

"Are you here to find my Dad?" Ted asked shyly.

"That's right. So, I know you were the last person to see him. Why don't you tell me what happened?"

The kit nodded :"Well, we were hiking in the Forest of Dean, me and my Dad love doing that. At one point we stopped to take picture of this weird-looking lizard, who then flew away! Then when we turned around, there was this big, scary monster, with a huge mouth filled with teeth, and then we ran away. Dad hid me under the roots of this huge tree, and then ran away with the monster chasing him. I remained hidden for a long time, waiting for Dad to come back. Except he never did. A couple of rangers found me and brought me home, but they wouldn't believe me about the monster."

When Ted finished his story, he looked on the verge of crying again.

"You believe me Judy, don't you?" He asked, his voice shaking.

Judy hesitated a moment, than replied with a: "Of course I do."

As had previously happened with Octavia, Ted too seemed to find some relief in Judy's kind words.  
He sprinted from toward Judy and hugged her, and the bunny gently stroke the kit on the head.

Mrs. Otterton smiled softly at his son's happiness, but she had to talk with Judy without Ted hearing.

"Ted, why don't you go upstairs to check on your brother?"

"Yes Mom." He replied, parting from Judy and running towards the stairs.

Mrs. Otterton watched him leaving, then sighed softly: "You don't believe him, am I right?"

"Trust me, I'll do all what I can to bring your husband back."

"That's not what I asked you." Octavia said with more firm voice.

"Well, flying lizards, monsters... Probably your son just made up a fantastic story to repress a traumatic memory..." Judy tried to explain to the otter.  
"I mean, there are no evidence to support your son's story."

"That's were you are wrong, Officer."  
For the first time, Mrs. Otterton's sister, Abby, spoke up.  
She unlocked a phone and showed a picture to Judy.

A confused expression appeared on Judy's face: on the screen there was the image portraying a weird, green lizard.  
 _With wings._

"You see, I am a herpetologist. It's my job to study reptiles. And I've never seen anything like this before." Abby explained.

Judy didn't know what to think. So there _was_ some truth in what Ted had told her.  
There was only one way to find out what had really happened.

"I need to go to the Forest of Dean. I would like you to come with me, I could use your competence, Miss..." Judy stopped, realizing now she didn't know Abby's surname.

"Maitland. But you can call me Abby. And sure, I'll do anything to help find Emmitt." Abby replied confident.

"Good. One more thing..." Judy's voice trailed off with embarrassment "Do you happen to have a car, too?"

* * *

 **ZOOTOPIA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, 10:00 AM**

The building dedicated to the Department of Evolutionary Zoology of the ZMU was crowded with both students and teachers.

In the midst of the crowd, two mammals, a red fox and a small fennec fox, were heading inside, towards the former's office, chatting along the way, when they heard a sudden shout coming from behind them.

"Professor Wilde! Professor Wilde!"

Upon hearing his name, the professor Nicholas Wilde, turned around, looking for the source of such commotion. His green eyes spotted a young red panda, wearing a pork pie hat, fingerless gloves and a button up vest over his shirt.  
A silver ring could be seen hanging from a chain around his neck and he was carrying a cross body bag.

"That would be me. How can I help you?" Nick asked.  
The fox wore a light green Pawaiian shirt and a striped dark blue necktie, a quite unusual outfit for a professor.

"Connor Temple. I am one of your students." The red panda introduced himself, still catching his breath after the run.

"And... why don't I recognize you?" Nick asked, puzzled.

"Well... you never showed up for any of your seminars, actually..." Connor explained.

The professor looked at his fennec friend rising one brow, and the shorter mammal simply shook his head, chuckling.  
"Well then, why don't you join us?" Nick proposed with some embarrassment creeping in his voice.

* * *

The trio reached professor Wilde's office shortly after.

Inside, fossils and skeletons of prehistoric animals occupied almost every corner of the room, some of them being lined up on the walls, others on the desk, and some even hanging from the ceiling.

"Don't touch anything." Nick admonished Connor.  
"Oh, I almost forgot: this is Finnick Hart, my lab assistant." He added, gesturing toward the fennec fox.

"Nice to meet you, kid." Finnick greeted Connor.

"Nice to meet you too." Connor replied, shaking his paw.

"So, Connor, why were you looking for me?" Nick asked, getting straight to the point.

"Because of this!"  
The red panda produced a magazine from his bag.  
The front page read in bold, capital letters: "MONSTER ATTACK IN RAINFOREST DISTRICT!" with the photo of what looked like some sort of big paw print below it.

"Are you serious, Red?" the professor asked Connor, incredulity mixing with annoyance on his face.

However, Connor seemingly failed to notice that, as he went on: "Yes! Many witnesses affirm to have heard weird noises and a kid even stated that he and his father were attacked by it! Look at the picture!"

"Wait a minute... was it you that sent me a dissertation about alien creating life on Earth a few days ago?!" Nick interrupted the student.

"Yeah! Did you like it?"

"Judge by yourself, kid!" Finnick replied grinning, while pointing at a nearby bin, who was filled with some suspiciously familiar sheets of paper.

Nick sighed :"Look Connor, what I do here is trying to solve what I like to call 'Evolutionary puzzles'. For example, look at that fossil - he pointed at a rock on which was clearly visible the shape of a big fish - It's a Sarcopterygian. That species disappeared from the planet for about 70 million years, before unexplainably being found again by some fishers in the Pawcific Ocean. _That_ is a mystery worth investigating, Red. Not some... tabloid hoax." He concluded pointing at the journal.

"I'm sure that your wife would have thought this was worth investigating." Connor retorted, be he immediately regretted doing so, as soon as he saw the upset look on the professor's face.  
"Helen was a serious scientist, and not some gullible fool who wasted her time chasing fictional monsters!" Nick replied angrily, clenching his fists.

"I...I apologise, professor. I'll let myself out." Connor replied ashamed after a few seconds of awkward silence.  
He had already crossed the doorstep when he added: "I just thought it was worth checking out, since the Forest of Dean isn't too far away".

At those words, Nick's ears perked up.  
 _'The Forest of Dean?! This isn't possible...'_ Nick thought, claerly shook by the revelation.

Connor didn't miss the sudden change in Nick's behaviour, and so did Finnick.

"If we leave now, we can be there in half an hour." The fennec fox stated, wearing his black jacket and already reaching a confused, yet excited Connor outside the office, with professor Wilde following them shortly after.

In less than ten minutes, the tree mammals were heading toward the Rainforest District aboard of Finnick's van.

* * *

 **FOREST OF DEAN, 11:00 AM**

In the middle of the vegetation, two figures were walking slowly, carefully scanning their surrondings.  
Judy and Abby had been searching the forest for any clue about Mr. Otterton whereabouts for almost an hour by now, without any luck.

"I'm sorry. This feels like I'm wasting your time." Abby sighed.

"Don't worry, this is waaay better than parking duty." The bunny replied, smiling softly to the otter.

However, she had to admit that her moral was really low: they had no idea from where to start looking, and the forest was utterly big.  
The fact that was constantly raining since the pair got there wasn't helping either.

 _'Am I really doing this? A monster hunt?! And even if it's real, what am I going to do?'_ Judy thought to herself.  
Sure, she had her tranq gun with her, but she wasn't sure how much aid it could have provided.  
She tried to shrug off those thoughts and instead focusing on the only certain fact: a mammal was missing, and was her duty to do all she could to find him.

"Judy, I think you might wanna see this..." Abby called out, a scared note in her voice.  
She was a few meters ahead of the bunny, staring at something on the trunk of a three, on the side opposite to the one Judy was facing.  
Judy went around the three, and followed Abby's gaze upward, until her eyes met the source of the otter's concern: scratched on the cortex there were some huge clawmarks; so huge, in fact, that no predator she knew of could have produced them.

A sense of dread began to rise inside of her.  
All her sense were on full alert, and she had to fight the instinct to run as far as she could from that place.

A sudden _CRACK_ drew her attention: her fine ears located the source of the sound to be somewhere in the bushes on her right.  
Judy quickly extracted her weapon and pointed toward the place where the sound had originated.  
"Stay behind me. And get ready to run." She ordered to Abby.

The intense rain reduced Judy's field of vision, but her ears told her that something was closing by.  
She could hear the paws stepping on the ground before her, as well as some rustling in the vegetation.  
Her heart was racing.

"Officer Hopps, ZPD. Show yourself! I am armed and I won't hesitate to shoot!" She shouted above the poundings of the raindrops.

At first, for what felt like ages, no answer came.

Then a voice came from the bushes.  
"wow, chill out Officer, will ya?"

Judy lowered her gun, and both her and Abby breathed a sigh of relief, as three mammals came into view: a fennec fox, the one who had spoken, a red fox and a red panda.

The red fox looked at the two with curiosity and a smug smile on his face.  
"What an honor! Being held at gunpoint by the first bunny officer in person,Judy Hopps."

"How do you know me?" Judy asked warily.

"I watch the news. I'm professor Nicholas Wilde, and this are my assistant, Finnick Hart, and my student, Connor Temple." He said gesturing first the former and then the latter.  
"Nice to meet you." He added, offering his paw to her.

 _'It's a trap, you can't trust a **fox**!' _Was the first thought her brain came up with.  
She immediately pushed those specist thought in the back of her mind, and shook his paw.

"So, Officer, what brings you here?" Nick asked.

"Me and my friend, Abby Maitland"- Judy nodded towards the otter - "are looking for her missing brother-in-law, Mr. Otterton, who was last seen here."

"The one attacked by the monster?" Connor intervened excited.

"Unfortunately, yes." Abby replied.  
"And waht, instead, brings one of the maximum expert in evolutionary zoology of the ZMU in this forest?" She asked back.  
"I work with reptiles, I've read some of your work." Abby quickly explained, as she saw the surprised look on the professor muzzle.

"We are...ah... doing some research."

"Is that so?" Judy asked, narrowing her eyes.  
Then, an idea came to her mind.

"Abby, show him the photo! Maybe he can help us identyfing that lizard."

Abby quicly obeyed, unlocked her phone and selected the image from the gallery.  
Then, he passed the device over to the professor.  
Luckily, the rain had almost stopped, so it wasn't to hard for Nick to look at the picture.

Judy watched as Nick's eyes widened in surprise.  
"This isn't possible!" Were the first words he mutter when he recovered from the shock.  
"Where did you get this?"

"My nephew took it shortly before he and his father were attacked. Do you know what it is?" Abby asked.

"Of course I do. These unique bone structures - Nick explained while zooming on the wings of the lizard - have only been found in the genus Coelurosauravus!"

"And why shouldn't it be possible?" Judy asked intrigued.

The professor looked her in the eyes :"Because this species is extinct since 250 millions years ago!"

Judy couldn't believe to what the professor had just said: "Wait, _what ?!_ How is that possible ?"

"I don't know." This time was Finnick who spoke.  
"But I'm pretty sure that little thing hasn't done _this._ " The fennec said while pointing at the clawmarks Judy and Abby had found before.  
"Whatever did it, it had to be 4 meters long, _at least_."

Judy was on a rollercoaster of emotion.  
 _'So, there is a prehistoric monster roaing around this forest?! This is completely insane.'_

"Okay, let's not jump to conclusion. There must be a logic explanation for this!" Nick tried to reassure everybody, but he was the first to have a lost look on his face.

In the meanwhile, Connor had produced a laptop from his bag.  
"Okay, let's see...Coelurosauravus..." His mumbled to himself as he typed in.  
"I knew that working on a complete archive of prehistoric wildlife would have been useful, one day!"He said pleased, as the other four mammals gathered around him.

"What a geek." Finnick mocked with a smirk.

The red panda decide to ignore the comment.  
"Here says it lived during the Permian period... so, if we are looking for a big predator who lived at the same time, and based on the photos of the pawprint on the journal... this is our best candidate."

Once the page finished loading, it showed the image of a huge, four legged beast, with a compact and large body. Its head and snout were big too, and it sported two long, curved and sharp canine.  
Above the image, a bold text identified it as a Gorgonopsid.

For a few moments, nobody said anything, everyone like mesmerized by the potrait of that ancient killing machine.

Then Judy spoke up: "We must call back up!"  
She reached for her radio, but professor Wilde grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"What are you doing?!" Judy asked angrily, freeing herself.

"We can't call anyone else. Not untill we know more about this!" Nick replied.

"And why is that?" She retorted, still mad.

Nick sighed:"Carrots, let me tell you what is going to happen if you call reinforcement. You tell them over your radio 'Hey, we are chasing after a monster from the dawn of time." But, whoopsie: they all laugh at you and you become the joke of the precinct, if you aren't already. Of course, someone might still come, and then, double whoopsie: we have nothing concrete to show them except some scratches on the woods and the picture of a weird looking lizard. And whoopsie number three-sie: we all loose our credibility and our life will slowly crumble apart, while that thing keeps roaming out there undisturbed and hurting more people."

Judy looked away, unable to sustain his gaze, because she knew Nick was right.  
Then, he placed a paw on her shoulder, and her amethyst eyes met his emerald's.

"Trust me, I know what it means to fight your way to reach your goal. It hasn't been easy for a fox like myself to become a professor. We can't afford to loose what we achieved throught such efforts and dedication. Is it right? No, it isn't. But on this, we are on our own."

Judy could see the sadness in his eyes as Nick spoke.  
And could feel tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

Nick smiled and hugged her: "Oh, you bunnies. You're so emotional."

Judy managed to laugh at the joke, and composed herself.  
"Okay then, professor, what do you suggest."

Nick turned to face Finnick:"Go back to the van and bring a proper weapon."

"The hunting season is open"

* * *

It had been a few minutes since Finnick had left the others in order to retrieve some... 'equipment' from his van.

Abby and the rest of the group had been stuck in an awkward silence since then, not really knowing what to do while waiting.  
"So...uh... Professor Wilde, what kind of research where you conducting, exactly?!"

Nick was clearly caught off guard by the question, and tried to stutter something, but Connor was faster than him.  
"Actually, we are here for your same reason: we were looking for the _'monster'_ from the beginning." The red panda explained.  
"But I was the one who got the idea."He quickly added, winking to Abby.

She ignored him, and asked another question to the fox:"And since when a respected professor like yourself lets one of his students drag him in the middle of nowhere to go after an urban legend?"

The question picked up everyone interest, and suddenly three pairs of eyes were fixed onto the professor.  
He sighed with resignation, before eventually answering:"Ten years ago, my wife went missing while investigating some weird sightings in this very place. Her body was never found. I just thought that I might finally be able to find what happened to her. To get some sort of closure."  
While saying the last words, his voice was trembling.

Judy laid her paw on his forearm.  
"I'm really sorry."  
She hesitated, then spoke again:"What was her name?" She asked in a kind, sweet tone.

Nick sniffed:"Helen. But everyone called her 'Skye' because of her azure eyes"  
"I'm sorry for the pathetic show, I usually don't let people see that they get to me this easily." He said, wiping his eyes.

"Looks like bunny aren't the only one to get emotional." Abby said, getting a laugh from the other three mammals and defusing the tension.

Nick composed himself and cleared his voice, a smug grin on his face, apparently ready to retort to Abby, when a chirping sound echoed around them.  
Abby looked around like the others did, trying to locate what was making that noise.

The sound echoed again, but this time the otter was able to catch a glimpse of bright green moving between the treetops.  
"THERE!" She pointed the small creature to the others.

When it came to a stop on a trunk, she was able to see it clearer, and identified it as the lizard from the picture.

"So it _is_ real, after all!" Nick whispered from behind her, with in his voice the same sense of wonder that was surging in the rest of the group.

Abby was really looking at something that shouldn't exist, an animal that no mammal had never seen before!

However, they were abruptly brought back to reality when the Coelurosauravus took fly once again, starting to disappear in the distance.

Abby heard someone moving behind her, and Nick quickly came into her vision, running in the same direction of the lizard.  
"Quick, come! We can't loose it!" He shouted, encouraging the others to follow him.

Abby and the others obeyed, and began the chase.

* * *

Finnick had almost reached his van when his phone began ringing in the pocket of his jacket.  
He pulled it out, and he saw that on the screen was displayed the name 'Nick'.  
He quickly accepted the call.

"Hey Nick, what is going on?" the fennec asked, with an hint of concern in his voice.

 _"Finnick, we found that Coelurosauravus! We are currently following it, so we are no longer where you left us"_ Nick explained, sounding like he was currently running, judging from how he was panting.

"Okay then, tell me in which direction you are going, so I can catch up with you later." Finnck replied, not exactly happy to have those four run around in the same forest where a dangerous creature was lurking.

 _"How am I supposed to do that, it's not like we have a compass! Aren't you supposed to be the best at following tracks and..."_ Nick trailed off, apparently having a conversation with someone else on the other side.  
 _"Okay, never mind. Apparently, Red_ has _a compass inside that bag of his. He says we are heading north-west. I'll call you if anything happens."_  
Those were Nick's last words before hanging up.

Finnick sighed, and resumed walking toward his van.  
He reached it in a few more minute: it was parked at the entrance of the park, near a small cabin which served as restaurant for the tourist, even if it appeared to be empty right now.

The fennec fox was a few meters away from the van, when he suddenly heard a noise: it was a loud, deep growl, coming from behind the vehicle.  
Finnck gulped nervously as he slowly began to back up from the van.

The growl was followed by some heavy thump on the ground: something really big was moving.  
Finnick had seen reconstructions of it on Connor's PC, but this was another thing completely: the Gorgonopsid was imposing, and utterly terrifying.  
Its big, long snout was filled with teeth so sharp that looked like knives; with every breath, the foul stench of rotten meat typical of a carnivorous animal filled the fox's nostrils.  
And its small, yellow eyes shone with hunger, and they were fixed right on Finnick.

After the brief initial shock, Finnick came to his sense.  
He quickly evaluated his possibilities, before darting for the cabin.  
With a roar, the Gorgonopsid went after him.

Luckily, the door was open: Finnick dashed inside and locked the door with a swift motion.  
Then he stepped back, as the creature began banging against it.  
The wooden barrier that stood between them wouldn't resist much longer.

Inside the cabin there where three tables on the left,one for large mammal, one for mid-sized ones and one for small ones, a fridge and a gas stove on the far side, a pool table and a jukebox on the right.  
Finnick looked around for an escape route, but there was only one entrance, and the windows couldn't be opened.  
He was trapped.

He had to figure out a way to face the Gorgonopsid, and quickly.  
He pushed the small and medium sized tables -the large one, designed with mammals such elephants in mind, was too heavy for him- against the door, to barricade it and buy some time.

Then, he moved toward the pool, which was thankfully of his own size, and grabbed a cue: he wrapped his jacket tightly on one end of it, and went for the fridge.  
Inside it, he found what he was looking for: a bottle of liquor.  
The fennec poured its content on the end of the cue with the jacket wrapped on.

In the meanwhile, the wooden door was had began to fall apart under the furious and continuous ramming of the creature.

Finnck turned on the gas stove, and carefully placed the alcohol-imbued cloth on the fire, and it immediately began to burn.  
The fennec fox grinned satisfied as he held his weapon before him, and turned to face the imminent threat

In that very moment, the door exploded in a thousand splinters, and the Gorgonopsid made its way inside the cabin.  
It was on the other side of the room from Finnick, ready to attack its prey.  
When it was about to charge, however, Finnck shoved the fiery end of the cue toward its snout; with a roar, the creature took a few step back, but keeping its yellow eyes on the short mammal.

Finnick immediately took advantages of the creature hesitation, as he knew it could decide to try and attack him in every moment: he slowly began to move to the right of the cabin,the side of the pool table, using the torch to keep the distance between him and the prehistoric animal.  
He was moving slowly, sweat beading across his forehead and paws, his gaze always fixed on the creature.

However, he was so focused in keeping the Gorgonopsid at bay, that he failed to notice one of the big splinters of wood on the floor, before it was too late: he stepped right on it, the spike sinking deeply inside his foot.

The sudden, sharp pain made him yell , and he lost his balance, falling backward and hitting the floor hard, more splinters cutting inside his body.  
In the fall, his self-made torch went flying sideways: Finnick was at mercy of the Gorgonopsid.

He quickly sat up, helped by the adrenaline, and rapidly crawled backward, putting as much distance as he could between himself and the predator.  
In a few moments, he was with his back against what he thought was the wall at first, but a quick glance behind him revealed it was actually the jukebox.  
As the beast growled and charged, one last, desparate plan formed in his mind.

Seconds before the Gorgonopsid's jaws closing around him, he rolled sideways, dodging the creature's attack: as a result, it sank its teeth into the jukebox.

An howl of pain surged from the creature as electricity ran from the device into its body: the creature shook its head, trying to get rid of the painful sensation, hitting Finnick in the process, who was sent flying on the other side of the room, and bounced off the wall, out cold.

The creature, confused, hurt and dizzy, felt exposed, and run back outside, taking refuge inside the forest from which it had came out, leaving behind a wrecked cabin and a passed out, but still breathing, Finnck.

* * *

 _"I should start working out..."_ Connor thought.  
He and the others had been chasing the flying lizard for about half an hour now, and the red panda felt like his lungs could explode in that very moment.  
However, the other three mammals didn't seem to have his same difficulties: the cop, Hopps, gave the impression she had been practicing for this kind of things all her life (and probably she had, from what Connor had heard about ZPD training), the professor seemed to be powered by the sheer force of science and hope to find out the truth about his wife and Abby... well, Abby was simply amazing.

The otter had struck him from the first glance: those bright green eyes, and the way that lock of white-dyed fur fell on them...  
The sporty hoodie and the yoga pants she wore gave away that she was a sportswoman, and also highlighted most of her curves...

Connor was brought back to reality she he almost tripped on the root of tree: he hoped nobody noticed, Abby above all.  
He gave a quick glance to his compass, to check if they were still heading in the same direction, but what he saw puzzled him.

"Hey guys! The compass has gone haywire!" He shouted.  
Everybody gave up momentarily from chasing the Coelurosauravus to take a look at the device: its needle had began to spin around, no longer pointing North.

"What does this mean?" Judy asked, confused.

"There must be something generating a magnetic field powerful enough to interfere with the compass." Nick hypothesized.

"What can create such a thing?" Abby asked.

"Maybe an alien spaceship?" Connor suggested.  
The other three mammals all gave him an 'are you serious' kind of look.

"Come on, let's keep following that lizard. I have the feeling it will lead us to the answers we seek." Nick finally added, before reprising the chase, followed by Judy, Abby and Connor, who was mentally scolding himself for saying such a stupid thing in front of everyone.

Once again, the others quickly pulled ahead of Connor, who was fighting against the urge of just sitting down and catch his breath.  
Suddenly, he saw the other come to an abrupt stop, all apparently awed by something before them.  
It also appeared to be some kind of light source coming from that very spot.  
The red panda caught up with the rest of the team, and then, his jaw dropped.

Before them, in a small clearing between the woods, there was something like anything he had ever seen before: it looked like a miniaturized sun, suspended in mid air.  
Around it, what looked like small shards of glass floated in a circular motion, forming a sort of sphere around the central light, which was reflected by them in a wonderful light show.  
It also made an eerie, whirring sound that made it even more unsettling, almost otherworldly.

They were brought back to reality when the Coelurosauravus chirped from one of the nearby tree, before taking flight once last time, heading right in the middle of the glowing phenomenon, which swallowed it with a flash of light, leaving no traces of the creature behind.

"What did just happen? What is that thing?" Judy asked, almost whispering, like if she was afraid that the thing could hear her.

"My best guess? A tear in the fabric of reality, some kind of wormhole maybe. An space-time anomaly."

"What does it means?" Abby inquired, as confused as Judy.

"It means, that that... _anomaly_ , as the professor called it, may be a portal to travel through time and space." Connor explained.

"Are you sure of it?" Judy replied.

"Carrots, I laid my eyes on it a few moments ago, I'm only theorizing. It could be anything, really." Nick answered.

"well, only one way to find out..." Connor said, as he slowly approached the anomaly.

"Wait, don't..." Judy tried to stop him, but too late.

Connor stuck his head right in the middle of the anomaly: he didn't feel any particular sensation, and when his muzzle went fully on the other side, a wonderful view welcomed him.  
It was desert environment, but with various trees sprouting here and there; in the distance, an active volcano could be seen emitting smoke.  
Flocks of Coelurosauravus flew from tree to tree, and a heard of big, bulky animals, covered in what looked like studs was grazing.  
Before he could see anything else, though, someone grabbed him and pulled him back.

"What the hell where you thinking?! It could've killed you!" JUdy shouted at him, while pinning his arms to his side and shaking him furiously.

"It doesn't matter now, he's already done it. So what did you see?" Nick asked him, pulling Connor away from the doe's grip.

"I...I've seen the past."

* * *

"I'm coming with you." Nick said, unmoving.

"It's too dangerous, I cannot bring along civilians in a rescue mission this risky." Judy replied while checking her tranq gun.  
They had been going on like this for the past ten minutes, since when Judy decided to go through the anomaly to look for Emmitt.

"You don't know what awaits you on the other side. I am an expert in prehistoric wildlife, I could help you! Please, I need to do this..." The professor had a pleading look in his eyes.

Judy sighed. He was right, after all. She didn't knew anything about dinosaurs or whatever those creature were.  
"Fine. But you follow my rule. And after we find Mr Otterton, we BOTH leave." She finally agreed.

"Sure Carrots. You're the boss."The fox replied, his usual smug expression back on his face.

She rolled her eyes, then turned to face Abby and Connor.  
"You two, stay put here, and wait for Finnick to come back. At the first sign of danger, I want you two to run as fast as you can in the direction we came, doesn't matter if we are back or not. Have I been clear?"

The otter and the red panda nodded.

"Good."  
She then turned back once again toward the anomaly, Nick by her side.  
The doe stared at the glowing orb before her: it was something she had never been trained for.  
She was scared, but there was a life at stake, and it was her duty to do all she could to save it.  
Or at least find out what happened to him.

"Are you sure about this, professor?"

"A hundred percent sure, Carrots." He replied with a smirk.  
Even if he was trying to hide it, he was clearly both excited and scared from what they could find on the other side.

"Okay. Let's do it." Judy said, straightening his back.  
The bunny and the fox stepped forward and, with a flash of light, they vanished inside the anomaly.

* * *

As her eyes finally adjusted to the new, much brighter environment, Judy couldn't help but marvel at the astonishing view before her.  
The sand extended for kilometers in every direction, an expanse of white sand which reached at the foot of a volcano in the distance.  
Only occasional tree, bushes or rocks intterrupted the sandy plain.

The second thing she realized it had been how _hot_ that place was: it would have made Sahara Square feel cool in comparison.

The third one was that she and Nick where not alone: a deep, trumpeting-like sound coming from her left warned her of the presence of a herd of big reptiles, with their body covered with thick, armored skin.  
The doe immediately extracted her weapon and aimed it against the nearest creature.

"Whoa, Carrots, put that thing away!" Nick said, putting a paw on her shoulder.  
"Those are _Scutosauruses;_ they are herbivores, whose only defense is their shell-like skin."

"Judy slowly lowered her gun.  
"So, they are basically like... giant tortoises?" She asked tentatively.

The fox laughed: "Well, they are more like their cousins."

The bunny gave one last glance to those weird creatures, then turned to face Nick.  
"I'd love to do a sightseeing tour, professor, but we are for Emmitt. Any idea where we could start?"

"That way." Nick replied, pointing at his right, without hesitation.

"How are you so sure?" She asked confused.

"Because that's the way the blood trail is going." He answered, lowering his finger a little to guide her sight down on the ground, where some dried, red stains led in the direction Nick had indicated her before.  
"The rain must have washed away the blood on the other side, that's why we haven't found any track back in the forest."

"Oh. Yes. Of course." She replied, clearly embarrassed, lowering her ears so he couldn't see their inside turning red.  
She cleared her throat, before starting to follow the trail.

The droops of blood proceeded straight for a almost fifty meters, before turning left behind a rock and abruptly stopping.

"Well, this is weird. What do you think happened?" Nick asked, raising his brow.

"It's unlikely the creature got him here, there would be a lot more blood." She observed, stroking her chin, trying to put the piece together.  
"Emmit hides his son, then lures the creature away from him. He gets injured at some point, and while running away he goes through the anomaly. So he finds himself in an unknown place, bleeding and chased by a predator. He does the most logical things: finds the closest place to hide and catch his breath, behind this rock. Then, he takes care of the next more urgent issue..."

"He stops the hemorrhage!" Nick completed her reasoning, his eyes widening at the realization.

"Exactly. Maybe he improvised a tourniquet with a piece of cloth or something. This means he could still be alive!" She said excited.

"Yeah, but we must find him quickly. He's lost a lot of blood for mammal of his size, and probably he hasn't drank or eaten anything since he got here!" Nick reminded her,

At the fox's words, Judy's face went back in focus mode. "Okay, where he could have gone next?" She wondered, looking at her surroundings.

"What about there?" Professor Wilde said after a few seconds of silence, pointing at a small patch of trees only a kilometers away.

"Looks like a good place to start looking." The doe agreed nodding her head.

They immediately headed in that very direction, walking cautiously, well aware that they still were in an hostile environment.

Then, half way from the small group of trees, the wind began to blow from the vegetation toward the two mammals, and brought to Nick's nose new scent.

"I can smell him! He is there!" He shouted excited.

Judy's and Nick's eyes met, and they knew exactly what to do. They picked up their pace, until they found themseves running toward the vegetation.

Both hope and dread filled the doe, who began to pray not to see her first corpse in that moment.

When they finally got there, the duo frantically began looking around for the otter, but he was nowhere to be seen.  
They split up to cover more ground, and in a few minutes, she heard Nick shouting "Carrots!" to get her attention.

When she caught up to him, the doe saw he was kneeling down on the ground, next to some white rocks scattered around.  
Only when she got closer, she realized with horror those where actually bones, some fabric of the clothes that mammal was wearing still wrapped around them.

When Nick saw her concern, he immediately reassured her: "This is not him. This bones have been here for at least some years, and they belonged to a large sized mammal."

"So...this isn't Skye either, right?" She asked, and then quickly added, seeing that he seemed surprised by the question: "Come on, I can do two plus two. I knew from the beginning that Mr Otterton wasn't the only reason you wanted to come along, risking your life."

"Sly bunny." He said, his usual smug grin returning on his muzzle.

"Dumb fox." She replied, returning the grin, before turning his attention back to the bones. "What else can you tell me about those?"

"Well, the remains are in very bad shapes, but I can tell you that almost surely that our friend was an ursine. Also, I'm not an expert, but this cloth looks a lot like kevlar."

Judy knelt down beside him to examine the fabric. "You are not wrong. This guy was wearing a bulletproof jacket."

"Does this means somebody knows about all of this? And what were they trying to accomplish walking through an anomaly?" The fox wondered, an hint of worry creeping in his voice.

"Those question will have to wait. We still haven't found Emmitt. Do you still smell him?"

Professor Wilde nodded.

"I don't understand. If he was here, we would have found him by now!" The doe said, clenching her fists in frustration.

Nick got up and leant against a tree. "I'm sorry Carrots, but that's what my nose is tell..." he trailed off, as he noticed something sticky was covering the trunk he had leant against.  
At first, he thought it was resin, but he realized, when he looked at it a second time, that was actually a rivulet of blood, coming down from the treetop.  
Both him and Judy looked up and saw its source: an unconscious otter was laying between some branches.

They had found Emmitt Otterton.

Thanks to her powerful legs, with a couple of jumps Judy climbed the tree and reached the injured mammal.  
As she had predicted, he had applied a belt on the upper part of his right arm, where a broken bones had punctured through the skin.

She quickly checked his vitals: he was barely breathing, and his pulse was so weak she had to check twice to feel it, but he was still alive.  
Judy breathed a sigh of relief; then, with some effort, she carefully began to lower the otter down the tree, where Nick was ready to gently take him, cradling in his arms.

The doe quickly hopped down beside the fox, right after she had completed the ordeal.  
"Let's go. He needs medical attention right now!"

They where starting to head back, when a reflection hit Judy on the face.  
She knelt down and unearthed the small, shiny object: a digital camera, with the letters H.S.W. printed on the side. "Professor, look!"

"Carrots, we have no time fo..." Nick trailed off, as he instantly recognized the device.  
"I-It's hers. It's Skye's. I gave her that as a gift for her birthday." The fox stammered, a whirl of emotion assaulting him.

Judy tried to turn on the camera, but of course the battery had long ran out. "I'm sorry..."

"For what? That's only a camera, we don't know what happened here." Nick replied curtly.

She hesitated a moment, before putting up a kind smile. "Of course. And I promise you that we will find out Skye's fate. But first, let's bring Mr Otterton back home."

The fox nodded, and the two of them started heading back toward the anomaly.

* * *

Connor and Abby where sitting on the roots of a tree, right in front of the anomaly.  
It had been half an hour since Nick and Judy had gone through the shining portal, and they had been waiting there for their return.

Connor had been entertaining himself watching every metal object he could find being pulled in by the magnetic field of the anomaly, until he absent-mindedly had lost the keys of his house in that way.  
Then, he had been blathering about how he was going to win a Nobear Prize.

Abby chuckled. "You don't even know exactly what is it or how it works, and you already want a medal for it?"

"Come on!" Connor said, throwing his arms up. "It's a freaking tear in the fabric of time, which can let you travel through it! Also, it can do this!" He added, producing a metal pen from his bag, and pointing it toward the anomaly.  
But his smile turned into a frown when nothing happened.

"Why it didn't got sucked in?" Abby asked confused.

"Probably the magnetic field isn't as strong as before. Which can only mean..." He trailed off, as the realization hit him.

"What does it means?" Abby asked, worried.

"It means the anomaly itself is getting weaker."

* * *

Judy finally saw the anomaly emerge from behind the rock where the blood trail stopped.

"Yes! We're almost there!" The doe said relieved, panting from the hot climate, and from the added weight of the otter she was carrying.  
She had insisted, half way back, that Nick passed her Emmitt: the finding of the camera had left the fox deeply hurt,and had seemingly drained him of all his strength.

She dried the sweat from her forehead with the back of her paw, before reprising her march toward the 21st century.

However, the more she got closer, the more something felt off: the anomaly was less brighter then before, and had began flickering.

"Professor, the anomaly! It looks like it's about to close! We must hurry!" She yelled, and picked up her pace.

However, a few feet away from the portal, she noticed she couldn't her the fox's steps.  
Turning back, he noticed Nick hadn't followed her, instead standing by the rock.

"What are you doing? Professor, we must go!" She plead him.

"I'm not coming. I'll stay here. I must find my wife." The fox replied flatly, his head low.

"Wha- No, you can't do it! You won't last a week out here alone!" She argued.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take."

"And what if this happens again? If another anomaly appears? You are the only one who knows this much about these creatures!" She insisted, while taking a peek behind her from time to time, checking on the anomaly, whose flickering had grown more frequent.

"You must go. That otter's life depends on you." Was the fox's only reply.

"Professor Wilde!" Judy called out again, but he kept his gaze away from her.

" **NICK! LOOK AT ME!** " Judy finally shouted.

Taken aback from the sudden outburst, and from the bunny using for the first time his first name, the fox finally looked up and met her eyes.

"I can't save people from things I don't even understand. I am afraid. The only thing preventing me to go crazy has been the fact of having someone by my side helping me. I need your help. I need _you._ "

Nick was left speechless.  
He could count on the fingers of one paw the people who ever trusted him.  
And now, this cop, a _bunny_ , was asking for his help.

"Fine. You won." He sighed, a weak smile returning on his muzzle, and started down toward the doe.

Judy smiled. "Thank you."

He simply nodded, and then they both walked through the anomaly, and back to their own time.

* * *

As soon as they saw Nick and Judy come through, Connor and Abby immediately got up to help the bunny with Emmitt.  
Abby almost cried when she was told Mr. Otterton was still alive.  
Behind them, the anomaly was getting weaker and weaker, but it was still open, at least for now.

"Have you heard from Finnick? We need the van to bring Mr Otterton to the nearest hospital." Nick said urgently.

"Now that you mention it, he never called back..." Connor said.  
"Maybe he got lost or som..." The red panda was interrupted by a powerful roar coming from behind them.

They all turned their head in the direction the sound came, pure horror on their faces as they saw it: the Gorgonopsid was standing right there, imposing, its fiery eyes fixed on them.  
Its snout was scarred by what appeared to be some kind of recent burns.

Judy was the first to come out from the terror-inducted paralysis.  
"Get away from here, I'll take care of it" She ordered, before sprinting on the side.

" **THIS WAY, UGLY!** " she yelled to get the creature attention.  
Then she pulled out her tranq gun, and fired a dart.  
Judy hit the target, but it seemed to be unaffected.  
She fired again.  
The creature began to charge at her.  
The doe fired a third time, but the Gorgonopsid continued to run toward her.  
Now it was ready to close its deadly maw around her.  
But seconds before what would have been her end, a blur of red fur grabbed her and tugged the bunny with it, diving sideways and dodging the creature, which missed her and kept charging forward for a few more meters before managing to stop itself.

When Judy finally looked up, she realized it was Nick that had just saved her.  
"I don't understand! That much tranquillizer could put an elephant to sleep!" The bunny said shocked.

"Yeah? Well, apparently nobody told it to that thing." Nick replied, as the creature turned backward, ready to once again charge the two mammal laying on the ground.  
 _This time, only a miracle can save us.'_ Nick thought desperate, as the Gorgonopsid began to get closer.

It was then that a very familiar van came running from the vegetation, crashing its nose into the side of the creature.  
 _'This will do too.'_

* * *

Driving the van was Finnick.  
As soon as he had regained consciousness, he had quickly taped his injured foot and a few more cuts, and then he had driven at top speed to reach the others.  
When he had seen Nick and the cop in danger, he had had no hesitation in hitting the creature with his van.

The impact made the Gorgonopsid fall on the side, but it still got up, even if limping noticeably.  
It growled back, but this time it looked more like in a defensive stance.

"Finnck! Try to scare it off!" Abby shouted to him.

Finnick nodded in understanding: the creature was hurt, and probably the drugs where starting to confuse it, so this was their chance to send it back; if he scared it, the Gorgonopsid would have probably go back where it felt safe, which was on the other side of the anomaly.

Finnick turned on the main-beam, blinding the Gorgonopsid, and began to honk the horn.

Fear pain and panic overwhelmed the animal, who quickly turned back, roared once more to warn its opponent to stay away, and vanished inside the glowing portal, which flickered once last time before closing.

Everybody breathed a sigh of relief: it was over.  
For now.

* * *

When they finally got to the nearest hospital, Emmitt Otterton was barely alive.  
The doctors eventually managed to stabilize him, even thought they had to amputate his injured arm, which had got gangrene.

In his state of shock, he couldn't recall anything of what had happened the previous day, so Abby, Connor, Finnick, Nick and Judy all agreed to say that he and his son had simply got lost into the woods, and that he got injured falling, and to keep in touch in case other anomaly ever appeared, to handle it by themselves.

"For now, it's better this way" Nick had told Judy "Starting a panic about prehistoric creatures roaming around would do no good."  
Judy wasn't to keen to lie, but they had managed to save Mr Otterton, and that was what mattered to her.

Chief Bogo had even congratulated with her, stating that "Maybe I have underestimated you, Hopps", and her colleagues had started to accept her as one of them.

Things were beginning to look better for the young bunny cop.

* * *

It was late.

Everybody had left the University hours ago.

Everybody except professor Nick Wilde.

He was in his office, staring at the screen of his computer.  
He had managed to extract the miraculously still intact memory card from Skye's Camera.

It contained only one picture: an artic vixen,with striking blue eyes, wearing worn out khaki shirt and trouser, was posing and smiling to the photographer.  
She had aged since the fox last saw her, but she was stil beautiful.

"Where are you, Skye?" He murmured, almost hoping the photo could answer him.

He yawned, tired, and went to the adjacent room to recover his jacket, ready to go home. When he got back, however, on the keyboard of his pc was waiting what looked like a spiral-shaped shell; Nick knew exactly what it was: an ammonite, an extinct mollusk who lived in the same period as dinosaurs. Their fossils where really common.

Only this time, it wasn't a fossil: some tentacles were sprouting from its open end. It was alive! Before he had the chance to examine it more closely, the fox noticed a shadow running away from his office with the corner of his eye.

"Hey!" He shouted, spring into action and following the fleeing intruder.  
He heard one of the door leading outside closing, so he launched himself in the cold air of the night.  
He looked around for a few seconds, before seeing her: under the light cone of a lamppost, fifty meters away from him, stood a vixen, with a white fur.

"Skye!" He called out, but when he reached the spot where she had been, the vixen had already turned around and vanished into the darkness.

* * *

 **NEXT TIME:** When small mammals begin to vanish in Little Rodentia, leaving behind only mysterious holes, the team gathers to face a new threat lurking into the Underground.  
However, they are not alone, as a Nick's old, dangerous acquaintance and his associates are looking for answers too.

* * *

 **NOTE** : So, the first episode is over!  
Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did while writing it!  
Stay tuned for the next episode!  
As always, thank you for the support and for sticking around up to this point!  
reviews and advices are always welcomed!

TheNightManager


	2. Episode 2: Into Darkness

Hello there! I know, it's been a while since last time, but, you know, life happened.  
however, I have a peace offer for you all...

* * *

 **EPISODE TWO: INTO DARKNESS**

 **LITTLE RODENTIA, 3.00 AM**

Larry yawned as he walked inside his house. The brown furred mouse had just finished the night shift at the supermarket, and just wanted to lay in his bed for the next hours. A week would have been better, but he knew that it would have been a miracle if he managed to get six hours of sleep.

He mindlessly dropped his backpack on the floor near the entrance of his apartment, and began to walk past the living room towards his bedroom, but suddenly stopped as he felt a weird tremor beneath him.

Living on the first floor of an apartment built right over the subway, he was used to its shaking, but this somehow felt... nearer, and wasn't matched by the usual metallic noise of the train scraping over the railway.

He knelt down, and leant his right ear against the floor. The mouse heard something... it was the noise of something... _digging?_

As the sound became nearer and nearer, fear began to surge inside him. He quickly got back on his feet, grabbed his phone and dialed the emergency number.

 _"Zootopia emergency service, please state the kind of danger you're in."_ A voice immediately said on the other side.

"There...uh...there is something trying to get inside my apartment." Larry replied.

 _"Could you be more specific? Where are you?"_

"I'm in Little Rodentia,103 Ratwell Road. Something is... _digging_ his way insi..." He trailed off as the the floor a few meters from him finally sank, leaving behind a hole almost as large as the whole room.

The mouse slowly leaned his head over the edge of the pit, trying to get a glimpse of what had made it.

 _"Sir, are you still there?"_ The operator asked, but Larry ignored her, almost mesmerized by the chasm.

At first, his eyes could not see anything; but after they had adjusted to the darkness of the abyss, he began to see something moving inside it: it looked like a black, seething liquid, only it was moving on its own accord.

Suddenly, it began to rise, leaking out from the edge of the hole and spreading inside the room.

The last thing the mammal on the other side of the phone heard, was Larry screaming as the black tide dragged him along down the tunnel from where it came out.

* * *

 **SAVANNA CENTRAL, 6.00 AM**

Abby woke up early, as she always did on week days, to go jogging. She quickly put on her sportswear and left the house.

The crisp and fresh air of the morning filled her lungs; the otter loved the city at this time of the day: no traffic, no busy person running all over the place, just quiet, the sound of her footstep the only thing accompanying her on her workout.

She kept jogging for an hour before finally coming back to her house. However, she skidded to a halt when she noticed someone standing in front of her door: a quite familiar red panda.

"Connor, what are you doing here?" the otter asked, startling him a little.

"Oh, hi Abby. What's up?"He quickly replied, trying to nonchalantly shrug off the scare she gave him  
"I'm here because I needed to ask you a favour. You see... my landlord kicked me out of my place, and I really need a place where to stay, so I thought..."

"Are you asking to _move in with me_?!" Abby asked in disbelief.

"It's just temporary, only until I find a new house. Pretty please?" Connor almost begged.

From the look on her face, it looked like Abby was deciding if punch the red panda in the face or just cursing at him until he left.  
Luckily for Connor, both their phone rang at the same time: Judy had sent them a message, telling them to meet at the gates of Little Rodentia.

"We will finish our conversation later. I'll go change clothes, wait me here." She said, somewhat less angered than before,but still definetly annoyed at him, as she unlocked the door of her house.

* * *

 **LITTLE RODENTIA'S GATE, 8.00 AM**

Judy had been waiting for the others to show up from almost twenty minutes, and she was growing impatient, as the nervous thumping of her foot on the ground gave away.

Finally, she saw Abby and Connor coming out from behind the corner of a building, heading her way, even though there seemed to be something off: Connor was avoiding looking at the otter, while Abby kept giving him dirty looks.  
Almost at the same time, Finnick's van parked right in front of her. "Hello, officer Fluff!" Nick greeted her, as he got out of the vehicle.

"Maybe you are not so clever after all, if you can't even learn my name, professor Wilde." She replied with a smirk.  
"Ouch, touché!" The fox said, pretending to flinch as she had hit him.  
"How sweet! I could get diabetes just by watching you two too long!" Came Finnick's snarky remark.  
"Finnick. Charming as always." Judy said flatly as the fennec fox approached.

"Hi guys!" Abby interrupted the confrontation, as she and Connor reached the them.  
The others greeted them, then everybody turned toward Judy, wanting to know what was going on.

"So, I called you all because I think we might have another... _incursion._ Last night, nine mammals, all small rodents, went missing from the district of Little Rodentia: the only thing left behind them where holes dig up in the ground which lead to the underground. One of them managed to call the emergency number before being abducted, and stated that something was trying to get inside his home from under the floor." Judy quickly explained.

" _Nine_?! That's an awful lot for just one night!" Abby said shocked.

"Probably we are dealing with more than one creature." Nick stated.

Finnick nodded in agreement."There have been attacks during daylight?"

Judy shook her head."No, the last one was estimated to have took place around half an hour before sunrise. Is it relevant?"

"It might mean that we are dealing with a pack of nocturnal creatures." Nick said

"That would also explain why they use the underground galleries to move." Connor added.

"Nice thinking, Red." The fox said to the red panda with a satisfied smirk, before turning back to Judy. "Will the ZPD mess around with this?"

"The ZPD doesn't _mess around_ with anything." The doe replied irritated. "But no, there won't be any other officers investigating on this case. I've being assigned to it because I've already solved a missing person case and because I'm the only mammal in the force small enough to move through Little Rodentia without destroying it, if necessary."

"Good. Less cops there are, less problems!" Finnick stated with a snicker.  
Judy frowned at that, but decided to ignore him, although she couldn't help herself but to think that the fennec fox would have made a perfect criminal, roaming the streets and hustling people, before cursing at herself for even thinking such a specist thing.

Probably noticing the her inner struggle, Nick came to the rescue of the doe. "Lets grab some equipment from the van and then we go checking out the underground, before anyone says anything we all would regret."  
Judy gave him a quick 'thank you' smile, before nodding and moving toward the van.  
She also noticed how he made sure to ear flick Finnick on their way.

* * *

 **ZOOTOPIA SUBWAY MAINTENANCE GALLERIES, 10.30 AM**

"Well, this is disappointing."Connor said out loud.

They had been walking inside the dank tunnel for hours, and found nothing.  
After Judy had convinced the subway's operators to let them check the maintenance galleries, the five mammals had been following the path that had led them beneath every hole in which the rodents had been disappearing, and yet, they had found nothing.

After the ninth and last hole, they began wandering almost aimlessly, even if Judy kept saying something about reaching the equidistant point from all the crime scene or something like that, but the red panda didn't pay too much attention.

"What disappoints you, exactly? The fact that nothing as already came out from the dark and attacked us as we are basically undefended?" Finnck asked with the same grumpy attitude he had been sporting since when the operators had forbidden them to bring any kind of weapon with them but Judy's tranq gun, leaving the others unarmed, unless one counted their flashlights and a few flare torches Nick had managed to sneak under his shirt as possible improvised weapon.

Connor opened his mouth to reply, but decided against it.  
They kept walking for some more time, the monotony of the tunnel's gray walls only interrupted by some few doors, which Connor guessed led to the railways.  
However, when he illuminated the nth door, he noticed the a hole big half of it had been made through the metal, and since the door had been designed with animals twice his height in mind, it meant he could easily walk through it.

"Guys, I think this might be a lead!" Connor said, pointing the pierced door to the others.  
The five mammals crossed the opening, and found themselves inside an ampler place, various railroads crossing it in parallel.  
Judging by the old bricks that made up the gallery, and by the rust on the rails, it appeared to be an older track of the subway, no longer operative.  
Not far away from the entrance, a single coach stood abandoned onto the one of the rails, and they decided to go investigate it.  
Connor and Abby stood behind Judy, who was pointing his gun toward the entrance of the wagon, as Nick and Finnick went one on each side of it, ready to open it.  
Judy nodded, and the two foxes pulled open the doors.

Nothing happened.  
Then, a foul smell came from inside it: the death's odor.  
Carefully, Judy inched forward, and entered the coach, followed by the others.  
Connor looked over her shoulder, and what saw inside left him puzzled: inside, the wagon had some tables lined up on its sides, covered with vials, beckers and more scientific equipment.

"What is this? A secret lab?" He asked.

"Don't think so. In here there is all what you need to cook drugs. It's a perfect hiding spot." Judy replied.

"And here we have our cooks." Nick said flatly from the opposite end of the coach.

When he reached the professor, Connor had to appeal to his will with all his might to keep his breakfast inside his stomach: the lifeless bodies of two rams laid on the floor, many bits of their flesh tore apart and both had a huge hole piercing their chests.

"And that, kids, is why you don't do drugs!" Finnick said shaking his head in mock disappointment.

"Could you please show some respect?" Abby scolded him.

Finnick was about to reply, but Connor spoke up first:"Professor Wilde, why does it looks like they were killed by the monster from the _Mammalien_ movies?"

Nick knelt down to inspect the bodies.  
"Well, in a sense, is because basically that's what happened to them. Probably some kind of parasitic animal laid its eggs inside their body, and when they babies were born, they dug their way out of their hosts, killing them in the process, and then they proceeded to eat them. Some wasps still do it nowadays."

"That's disgusting." Abby commented.

"So you are telling me we are dealing with a bug?" Judy asked incredulous.

"No. Not _one_ bug. By now, there must be a swarm of them lurking inside these tunnels." Nick replied worried.

They quickly gave another look inside the coach, finding nothing helpful, before going back into the galllery.  
To Connor, though, the tunnel now felt somehow more menacing, knowing what could be hidng into the darkness and what it could do to them.  
"Okay, what now?" The red panda asked.

Nick pointed his flashlight toward both the direction the gallery went, but the small space it could illuminate didn't gave away any clues on which direction they should take.  
"We split up."

"What ?! Professor, have you ever seen an horror movie?" Connor asked in disbelief.

"We are not in a movie, Connor. Lives are at stake here. I'll go with professor Wilde, you and Abby will go with Finnick." Judy said quickly, in a tone that didn't leave any room for objection.

Groaning, Connor did as he was told and, after Nick had given Finnck two flares, the two group began to walk away in opposite direction.

* * *

Nick was walking behind Judy, as she had insisted to lead the way.  
She kept both tranq gun and flashlight pointed straight in front of her: anyone could have guessed she was really tensed, but Nick wasn't entirely sure why she was so nervous.

He was about to point out the fact that her tranq gun would have been useless against insects, but decided against it.  
Instead, he put a paw on her shoulder: she jumped a little, startled, then turned around to face the fox.  
Even then, Nick could clearly she her shaking, but not from the scare he unintentionally gave to Judy.

"Hey Carrots, wanna tell me what's wrong?" He asked, his voice echoing various time in the dark gallery.

"It's... those bodies..." She tried to explain, on the brink of tears.

"That was the first time you saw dead people?" He asked surprised, but still kindly.

"Yes... I mean, no, I've attended to funerals before... those were the first corpses of _killed_ people I had ever saw after joining the force..."She replied, lowering her gaze to the ground.

"Hey, it's not your fault, Fluff. Don't ever think that." Nick said, putting a finger under her chin and gently lifting her head so he could watch her in the eyes.

"Yeah, but what if..." She began, but Nick moved his finger from under her chin to over her lift, cutting her off.

"No point in doing asking 'what if'. We can't change what has happened, but we could still be in time for saving other lives. Focus on that, Officer Hopps."

Judy suddenly closed the little space left between them, and hugged him.  
Nick stiffened up, not sure on what to do.  
He cleared his throat, and Judy quickly let him go.

"Huh...I'm sorry..."  
"You don't have to..."  
"It was inappropriate..."  
"No, it was me that..."  
"It won't happen again..."  
"I started the thing with the speech..."

A loud metallic noise interrupted the embarrassing conversation, and a part of Nick was glad something did.  
The other, instead, was scared to death of what could have possibly made it.  
Judy raised her gun toward the source of the noise, while Nick pointed his flashlight to reveal the cause of it.  
What he saw, left the fox slack-jawed.  
When he finally managed to speak up, he was able to pronounce only two words with a shocked tone.

 _"KEVIN?! RAYMOND?!"_

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the tunnel, Abby proceeded along with Finnick and Connor.  
The image of the two rams kept showing up before her every time she closed her eyes, so he tried to keep her mind busy with some talking.

"So, Finnick, what do you suggest we do if we found these bugs?" The otter asked.

"Actually, I hoped you could tell me." The fennec fox replied.

"What? Aren't you supposed to be an hunter or something?"

"Ehm... Guys..." Connor tried to step in, but Finnick talked over him.

" _Aren't you supposed to work with animals?"_ The fox replied mimicking her voice.

"Guys, really..." Connor tried again, and again to no avail.

"That's really mature, I bet you think you are exhilarating."

"Yep, and that's only one of my many qualities. Come over to my place tonight, I'll show you some more." Finnick said snickering.

"Well, that's just..."

"GUYS, SHUT UP!" Connor shouted, finally gaining their attention. "Do you hear that?"

Abby turned to face the direction Connor was pointing, right where they were headed.  
At first, the otter could hear anything. Then, her ears picked it up.  
The noise was like if many pebbles had been raining on the railroad; it grew louder and louder, which meant whatever it was, it was getting nearer.  
Finally, it came close enough their flashlights could illuminate it: a black, shapeless mass was advancing toward them.  
What at first appeared to be some sort of dark liquid, on a second glance revealed itself to be even worse: hundreds of beetles, some as big as her leg, where marching toward them.  
The noise they had been hearing was the clatter of the sharp claws on the ends of their legs hitting the metal.

When a few meters from the trio, the swarm suddenly stopped, a red light now reflecting upon their carapaces.  
Abby turned to see that Finnick had ignited one of the flares, and was using it to keep the insects at bay.

"They live underground, so I figured they probably don't like light too much." He quickly replied, without moving his eyes from the swarm.  
"Now, you two should really start running, I'll buy you some time"

"We are not leaving you!" Abby replied.

"Don't worry, I have no intention to die here, but this thing won't last forever, and we totally need back up on this one! Red, take her away!" Finnick said with urgency, as he noticed that the insect where growing bolder, slowly closing the distance between them and the three mammals.

Connor nodded, grabbed Abby's paw and began to run back where they came from, tugging her along with him.  
She began to run herself, but she kept looking back at Finnck, who was slowly being forced to moving backwards as the swarm came forth.  
Abby saw him throw the dying flare in front of him, and fidgeting to light the second one, but before he could do that, the beetles surrounded and assaulted him.  
In a few second, the black mass had swallowed him, and she loose track of the fennec, as she and Connor kept fleeing, leaving the swarm back in the darkness.

* * *

Judy kept her gun in front of her, aimed for the two polar bears who had just appeared.  
"Professor, you know them?" Judy asked surprised.

"Unfortunately, yes." Nick replied.

From the darkness, four more bear emerged, one being particularly tall, towering above all the other ursines, with his paws folded together in front of him.  
Nick appeared to recognize him too.

"Koslov? You're here too? But... this means..."He trailed off, his voice slightly shaking.

"Nicky, what a surprise to find you here!" Came a voice, although Judy could have swore that none of the bears had opened his mouth.

"I'm as surprised as you." The fox replied, but now his voice had lost his usual ironic tone, instead shifting toward a more respectful one.

"Nick who are these people?" Judy asked nervous as she noticed that every bear sported an automatic rifle.

"Officer Hopps, let me introduce you to the most feared criminal and mob boss of the whole city of Zootopia: Mr. Big." Nick said, as the bear he had called Koslov parted his paws, revealing a small chair, on which sat an old artic shrew.

"A cop, huh? I'd never thought to see you paired with one of them, and a rabbit, no less." The shrew replied, somewhat amused.  
"Nicky, tell her to lower her weapon, if that toy can be considered that."

"I won't let some criminal tell me what to do." She replied resolute, instead aiming her gun right at the shrew.  
As she did so, all of the rifles of the bears clicked in unison, all ready to fire at the doe at the slightest movement she would do.

"Carrots, please, put that gun away." Nick told her, slowly lowering her arms with his own.  
Judy looked at him in disbelief, but eventually did as he asked.

"I see you are still that clever boy I used to know." Mr. Big said satisfied, then snapped his fingers, and the bears relaxed, lowering their own weapon.

"I'm sorry, but I have no time for chatting, Big. I'm helping Carrots here"-he jabbed his thumb towards Judy-"finding some missing mammals So..."

"What a coincidence! I'm here for the same reason. My daughter Fru Fru is one of the abducted rodents." The shrew replied, worry creeping in his voice.

"Then let me do my job. I'll bring her back home safe and sound."Judy jumped into the conversation. "Professor Wilde and I are following a lead and..."

"Good. Then we are following _you._ I won't accept a no as an answer." Mr. Big said menacingly, his bodyguards growling and showing their teeth.  
But Judy didn't move.  
She just stood there, glaring at the shrew for what felt like an eternity.

"Fine." She finally gave up, and walked past the polar bears, heading again into the dark tunnel, passing next to the door they had knocked down to get inside the tunnel.  
She heard Nick quickly catching up with her, walking by her side.  
With the corner of her eye, she could see the fox opening his mouth a couple of times, but never actually speaking, like if he was never able to find a way to properly express his thoughts.

"Wilde, if you have to say something, do it." She barked, yet with a whisper, not wanting Big and his goons to hear them.

"Are... you... angry?" Nick asked whispering in a similar way Judy had.

"No, I'm glad you are intimate with a mob boss!" She replied, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"We are not _intimate!_ "

"He called you Nicky!"

"I can explain."

"Then do it!"

Nick sighed, before he went on:"My father was a tailor, and I used to help him. Mr. Big and his... associates used to be his best clients, so I know him since I was a kit. After my dad's death, I was offered to continue working for them, but I refused. I wanted to study and become a professor, also to show the world I wasn't simply a sketchy fox,as everyone had always thought, but something more. Since then,I've never seen Big again before today."

Judy stared at Nick: even in the dim light of their flashlights, he could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth.  
"Fine, but I don't like this situation a bit. What do we do if they see an anomaly or a creature?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure we will figure something out." Nick replied, giving her a clearly forced reassuring smile.

They kept walking, with the polar bears and the shrew following them closely. At one point, Mr. Big apparently ran out of patience.  
"Where are we going?" He demanded irritated.

Nick turned around and tried to reason with him: "I told you, we have a lead, you just need to trust us and..."

"We have been wandering around in this tunnel without a clear destination for almost twenty minutes. Nicky, you better tell me where my daughter is, right now!" He warned.  
Judy found incredible how such a small mammal was actually able to instill dread in her.

"Well... we... it's..." the fox stammered, as the bears began to close to Judy and him, their weapon pointed at the two of them.  
Judy readied herself to the fight, even if she knew exactly what would happen if things escalated into a fight, and it was nothing good.

Then, from the direction they came from, sudden noises of running and panting rapidly began to rise.  
Someone was coming their way.  
The bears shifted their attention from Nick and Judy to the new sounds, ready to shoot at the new threat.

"Professor... _pant..._ Judy!" Connor's voice called from the darkness.

Judy's eyes went wide  
She hurried to put herself in the line of fire, shouting:"Don't shoot! They are our friends!"

The bears looked back at their boss, who nodded, and once again lowered their weapon.

After a few seconds, the red panda and Abby came into vision, running holding paws, both winded.

"They... are coming..."the otter managed to says while catching her breath.

"Where is Finnick?" Nick asked worried.

"They took him." Abby replied after a minute, sadness permeating her voice."He saved our lives."

"Who is coming?"Mr Big asked, and Abby and Connor seemed to notice just then that Judy and Nick weren't alone.

"There is no time..." Judy began, but the shrew interrupted her.

"I DEMAND an answer! Nobody moves until you tell me what is going on" He shouted menacingly

"We'll explain on the way. We cannot waste any time, if we want to save Finnick and Fru Fru!" Judy replied, staring right back at the shrew, daring him to stop her.

Then she began running in the same direction Abby and Connor were running from, with Nick by her side.  
After a few more seconds of pause, Abby and Connor followed them, and eventually also Mr Big and the bears did so.

* * *

Finnick woke up.  
He immediately wished he had just died instead.  
Every inch of his body ached, but the worst thing was breathing: it was extremely hard and painful.  
It was like if someone had forced stones inside his lungs and rubbed sandpaper on the inside of his throat.  
He tried to move, but it turned out he was stuck: something sticky kept him on still on the cold floor.  
His vision was hazy, but he could make out a few shapes and a bright, flickering light coming from his left.  
 _"The anomaly"_ He realized.  
Then, he heard footsteps approaching him from right: he tried to speak, but all he came out of his mouth were a few wheezing sounds.  
The mammal nonetheless appeared to hear him, and soon enough he knelt at his side.

"Calm down. Don't strive yourself."  
Not an he. The voice belonged to a female. And it was also somewhat familiar, but right now it was hard to think.  
As she caressed him on his forehead, he could see the bright white of her fur.

"I'm sure they'll find you soon. Now I must go."  
She said, as she run her paw on his arm, reaching for his hand and putting something in it.

 _"No. Please stay. Help me."_  
Finnick wanted to scream those words, but once again his voice didn't support his will.  
As he once again drifted unconscious, the last thing he saw was the white-furred mammal walk toward the anomaly and vanish.

* * *

"You are not serious." Mr Big only managed to say.

"I wish we were joking, but unfortunately we aren't."Judy replied, as she kept running.  
She and the others had been heading where Connor and Abby had last seen Finnick.  
She had expected to see an horde of insects coming out from the darkness every moments, but it hadn't happened yet.  
They had only briefly stopped at the abandoned coach, to catch their breath and to show Mr Big the bodies of the rams, to prove him the story they had told him was true.  
They finally reached the spot where Abby and Connor had last seen Finnick.

"Where did they go? We couldn't have possibly missed a swarm _that_ big!"Nick said, clearly panicked and worried about his friend.

"They can dig!" Connor managed to say between panting hard. "Look for holes in the walls, floor, ceiling, everything!"

The beam of everyone flashlights began to dance into the darkness, running on every inch of the gallery's surface.  
Finally, Abby found it: a gap big enough to fit a small fox had been dug on the ground a few meters from where they had began searching.

"Okay, here's the plan. I, Wilde, Connor and Abby will go down there and rescue the abducted animals. Big, stay here and prepare your mammals to carry the possible wounded to safety." Judy quickly said, ready to jump inside the hole.

But Big had a plan of his own, apparently.  
"Kevin, get the out of shape idiot." He ordered.

"Wait, is he talking about..."Connor was cut off as the huge polar bear grabbed him with one large paw.

"Big, what are you doing?!" Judy asked, alarmed.

"You are not going anywhere without me. Nicky, come here please."

Nick reluctantly walked toward the shrew and, by extension, Koslov.  
The huge bear knelt down and moved his paw forward, and stopped a breath away from Nick's chest.  
Then, Big jumped from Koslov's paw inside the pocket on the fox's shirt.

"My bears will keep your friend safe, and nothing will happen to him as long as I come back." Mr. Big explained.  
Then turned back to Koslov:" Check if there is any other way to get down there, and reach us."

Judy wanted to reply, but the clock was ticking, and she had no time to discuss with him now.  
She simply sighed, before jumping inside the hole.

* * *

Nick wasn't too fond of small spaces.  
And that tunnel certain qualified as one.  
He could barely move, and he also had to be careful not to crush the mob boss he was carrying in his shirt.  
But he had to carry on.  
He couldn't loose Finnick.  
They kept quietly crawling in complete darkness, dirt soiling their fur and clothes.  
The image of the tunnel collapsing on them kept popping up in Nick's head every time his head brushed against the ceiling of the gallery, causing some pebbles and earth to fall on him.  
Finally, the tunnel began to widen up, and some dim light allowed him to make out the shape of Judy crawling in front of him.  
That proved to be a good distraction for a few moments, until Nick realized that and turned his gaze away, glad that no one could see him blushing, even if he could swear he heard Mr. Big quietly sniggering.

Shortly after, they exited the tunnel, and found themselves in what Nick guessed was an old electrics area, probably used to power the old subway.  
The light they had seen before came from the anomaly: the glowing poratl was located on the far side of the large room, but hat wasn't what caught their attention; before it, laying on the ground, there were the nine missing rodents, plus Finnick.

Nick run straight toward the fennec fox, and knelt beside him.  
With the tail of his eye he registered Judy and Abby doing the same for the others mammals.  
They all appeared to be covered in some kind of organic and viscous secretion, which prevented them from moving.

Nick felt some sudden movement on his chest and startled, believing it was one of those bugs crawling on him, but he sighed in relief when he realized it was just Mr. Big crawling out from his pocket to reach his daughter, who was among the other rodents.  
The fox returned his attention to Finnck and, checking for the vitals, he realized his friend was barely breathing: he quickly opened the fennec's mouth to give him the mouth-to-mouth, but he saw that something was stuck in the back his throat.  
The fox carefully placed two fingers inside Finnick's mouth, grabbed the slimy thing and began to slowly pull it out, doing his best to not hurt his friend.  
What came out looked like a rotten grape: a long tendon-like, thic tendril on which many small, opaque sphere where hanging.  
Nick realized that those where eggs: the insects wanted used Finnick as an incubator, like they had done with those rams they had found before.  
Nick threw the thing away, disgusted, before turning back to Finnick, who had once again began to breath normally, even if he was unconscious.

Using his claws,Nick began to free his friend from the sticky restrains, but stopped once he reached his paw: in it, he was clutching a small piece of paper.  
The fox grabbed it and unfolded it:  
 _I'm waiting for you on the other side.  
Skye_

Nick froze.  
 _Skye is alive. I'm not crazy! But... if she's not stuck on the other side, why doesn't she come back?  
_ He was brought back to reality as he heard someone calling for him.  
He quickly hid the paper in his pocket, then turned back to the voice.  
"I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"Is Finnick okay? I saw you there, motionless, and I didn't know what to think." Judy said concerned.

"No, he's fine. We got here in time. He had those eggs in his throat, but he'll be fine." Nick replied, giving the bunny a reassuring smile.

Judy looked at the eggs, grossed out.  
"The others don't have those. Why are they here then?"

"My guess? Food." Nick replied "Now, let's get out of here, before those things come back."  
Judy nodded, and they quickly freed all the mammals.  
"How the hell are we bringing them out of here? We can't drag them in the tunnel."Judy said.

Abby went to check the only door in the room, but it was locked from the outside.  
"Looks like we don't have much of a choice." she sighed.

They gathered all the unconscious mammals together and readied themselves for the task of dragging them along inside the burrow, when from it a noise began to rose, like the sound of thousand of marbles flowing inside it.

Nick saw Abby froze in fear at the sound.  
"It's the swarm! It's coming! We're trapped here!"

They all moved to the far side of the room, tugging along them the abducted mammals, and readied to fight the swarm.  
In a few seconds, the room was flooded with huge, black beetles surrounding them.

"Professor, the flare!" Abby shouted.  
Nick nodded, and lighted up the torch he had kept for himself when they had split up.  
This time, though, the flame, for some reason, burned brighter and higher than when Finnick used it.  
That kept the beetles at bay, but Nick knew it was a temporary solution.

"This thing won't last forever. Any bright ideas, Carrots?"Nick asked with urgency.

Judy thought for a few seconds, when a smile spread wide on her face as a plan formed in her mind.  
She took something from one of the pocket of her belt.  
"Use this!" the doe said as she passed a small, pink can to Nick.  
He gave a quick glance a the warnings on the back of it to see what he had to do: the universal symbol for flammable substance was among them.

Nick shook it, then put it between himself and the flare, before pressing the top of the can: when the spray came in touch with the fire, it created a small, yet powerful stream of flames.  
now equipped with a improvised flamethrower, Nick began to advance, burning the beetle on his way: their screech were terrible and the smell even worse, but at least now the team had the upper hand.  
They tried to get close, and they almost overcome the fox a couple of time, but he always managed to fend them off.  
The beetles kept coming, and Nick kept burning them, until the last one perished in flames.  
Nick slowly lowered the spray, and the flare died as he did so: they had been lucky.

"Whoa! What kind of flare you got there? Is way more powerful than the one Finnick used!" Abby said.

Nick dried some sweat from his forehead with his forearm and turned to face the others, before answering.  
"It's not the torch. It's the air. This things must be from the Carboniferous, a period when the content of oxygen in the air was about 30 percent higher. This is why back then insects used to be so big. Air must be flowing from the other side of the anomaly, and this made the flame burn that way." He explained, his usual smug grin returning on his face for the first time since hours.

"urgh... I hope no one else ever wakes up at you lecturing..." Finnick groaned, as he blinked a few time.

"Hey, Fin. I thought this time I'd lost you." Nick replied, smiling.

"Ah! You wish!" Finnick said as he slowly sat.

"Nicky! Why my daughter isn't waking up?!" suddenly stepped in.

"Look at them." Nick replied calmly, pointing at the still unconscious rodents " They are covered in bites, like Finnick. My guess is that the beetles injected some sort of sedative through their bites. Finnick is bigger than the other who have been abducted, so the effect wore off faster."

"We better take them to the hospital nonetheless. No point in risking."Judy said.

Nick sighed:"I agree, even if this time it won't be easy to justify what has happened."  
He then noticed that everyone was looking at him with pure terror on their faces.  
"Hey, don't worry, I'll come up with something!"

"NICK, BEHIND YOU!" Judy shouted.

Nick turned around, and saw what really had scared them: from the anomaly was emerging another beetle.  
But this one was different: it was as tall as Nick and even longer.  
 _"A queen. Of course there had to be a queen. The rodents_ were its _food_ _"_ He thought as he once again rose both the flare and the spray, only then remembering the first was no longer burning.  
The queen made a screeching sound as she dragged her heavy, bulbous body toward the fox.  
There was nothing he could do as the queen loomed toward him, its multiple eyes reflecting his terrified face.  
Then, Abby stepped in between them, and kicked the bug really hard on those very eyes.  
Temporary blinded, the queen backed off, and so did the otter and the fox.

"What was that?"Finnick asked.

"I like kickboxing." She simply replied.

"I hope you are ready for round two, then." Nick said as the queen reprised its attack.

Judy drew her tranq gun and fired, but the dart simply bounced off the chitin exoskeleton which covered the queen's body.  
With their last resource gone, they braced for the attack.

Just then, something began banging on the other side of the door, before knocking it down.  
The queen turned towards it, just as a rain of bullets fell on her, leaving behind them a trail of sparks due to the excessive oxygen in the air.  
In a matter of seconds, the giant beetles laid on the floor, lifeless.

"Boss, you okay?" Koslov asked as he entered the room, followed by Kevin, Raymond, Connor and the other bears.

"Yes, thanks to you. How did you find us so quickly?" Mr. Big asked.

"Thanks to this!" Connor said proudly, rolling up his left sleeve, revealing on his wrist what at the first glance could have been mistaken for a watch.  
It was, in reality, a small compass mounted on a strap.  
"Since last time in the woods, I always wear it, so I can pick up the magnetic field of the anomalies. It's not super accurate, but it's a start."

"Well done, Red." Nick complimented to Connor.

"Yes. He's been very helpful." Koslov said with a smile.

"Then, I owe you an apology." Mr Big said to Connor.  
"Now, Kevin and Raymond, Keep your weapons aimed at that thing, and kill whatever comes out of it." Mr. Big ordered, pointing at the anomaly. "Koslov and the others, take this rodents to the nearest hospital. Let's get out of here."

* * *

 **OUTSIDE 'KANGAROO'S CROSS' STATION, SAVANNA CENTRAL, 2:00 PM**

Nick watched as the first limousine left, heading for the Zootopia General.  
It was already past lunch time: down those tunnels, the fox had lost track of the time.  
As the car turned the corner, he turned his attention back to the shrew in front of him.

"Thank you. All of you. You saved the lives of many today, my daughter's and mine included." Mr. Big said from the inside of a second limousine.

"It's just our duty, sir." Judy replied with a smile.

"Speak for yourself." Finnick grumbled, getting a laugh from all the team.

"Still, I owe you. I'll take care of making up a cover story for what happened down there. I have a certain influence on some news station which will come in handy."Mr. Big said, ignoring the disapproving look Judy gave him.  
"Also, it would be bad for business if monster began to roam the city, so I'll help you with any means at my disposal. My men will help you out any time one of those anomaly shows up."

"Well, thank you, but..." Judy began, but the shrew cut her off.

"This is non-negotiable. You are decent enough for a cop. Don't make me change my mind." He said, before the door of the limo shut and the car left.

The doe sighed.  
"Great. Now I work with the mob. Not exactly what I planned when coming to Zootopia."

"Well, they saved us today, so maybe it isn't such a bad thing after all." Abby said.  
The otter then turned to Connor:" And so did you, so, I'll let you stay at my place, but just for one week. Have I been clear?"  
Connor nodded as she handed him the key of her house.

"Wait, aren't you coming?" He asked confused.

"No, if Finnick still wants to take me out. After all, he saved my life too." Abby said as she turned toward the fennec fox, who simply smiled and offered offered her his arm.  
She took it and the two of them walked away, chatting and laughing.

Connor watched the whole scene unfold before him, disappointment plainly visible on his face.  
Nick chuckled and put a paw on his shoulder.  
"Don't worry Red, I'm sure it won't work. Don't give up your hopes yet."  
Connor managed a weak smile and nodded, before turning to leave.

Judy reached Nick's side as they watched the young red panda leave.  
"Do you think Abby's right? That working with Big is a good thing?"

Nick's expression darkened a bit.  
"I don't know, Carrots. I guess only time will tell." He replied, before a grin returned on his muzzle.  
"Would you mind explaining this?" He said teasingly, showing Judy the small can she gave him before.  
" _'Fox Away'_? Really?" He asked, looking at the cartoonish fox drawn on the canister.

Judy's ears shot up and Nick could clearly see her blushing beneath the fur.  
"I-I'm so sorry... my parents gave it to me... I didn't mean to..." she stuttered, embarassed.

Nick laughed.  
"Don't worry, Fluff. Today it saved us, so I'll let you keep it." He said as he trew the can to her.

She catched it, then looked at it for a few moments, before dumping it in a nearby trash can.  
"Nah, I don't need it anymore. You show me that one can trust a fox. Or that I can trust you, at least." She said, smiling at him.  
"Now, I _reeeally_ need a shower. Bye!"She added while hopping away, waving at him.

Nick waved back, while the small piece of paper in his pocket suddenly felt more heavier than before.

* * *

 **NEXT TIME:** Mr. Big require the team's help as mammals are attacked by mysterious creatures swimming in the cold waters beneth tundratown, as Nick finally faces the ghosts of his past.

* * *

...a complete episode!  
I'm also going to regroup all the previous chapters in a single one, because I realized I prefer to post full episode rather than really small chapters, even if it means longer time gap between them.

As always, let me know what you think of this chapter, reviews and advices are always welcome!

Till next time!

 _TheNightManager_


	3. Episode 3: Below The Surface

**"EPISODE 3: BELOW THE SURFACE**

 **ZPD HQ, DOWNTOWN, 6:00 PM**

Judy pushed the doors of the main ZPD building open and left it.  
She had just finished her shift, bringing to justice a robber who had managed to evade the force for several weeks before she was assigned to the case a few days ago.  
However, this case hadn't been all peaches and cream: while chasing and tackling down the criminal, a deer way bigger than she was, he had fallen on her, which had resulted in her conspicuous limping.  
As she made her way toward the short stairs which lead to the road, she noticed a familiar red and cream muzzle waiting for her before the flight.

"Hello Carrots!" Nick greeted her.

"For one who pass himself off as a professor, you sure have a lot of free time." She replied, shacking her head in amusement.

"Well, none of my students ever complained." He said with a smile.

"So, Wilde..."

"Nick."

"I'm sorry?" She asked, confused by the abrupt comment.

"Call me Nick, please. You are not one of my students."

"Fine, _Nick._ " She emphasized his name. "What are you doing here?"

"Just checking on my favorite cop." He simply shrugged. "What's with your leg?"

"Nothing serious. And I could arrest you for stalking." She said, jokingly.

"You can do that later. First, Mr. Big asked for us." Nick said, revealing the true reason behind him showing up at her workplace.  
Judy frowned at the mention of the mobster.  
He did help with making up a cover story for the anomaly in Little Rodentia a week ago, but she had really hoped she would not see him ever again.

"What does he wants?" Judy asked without concealing her discomfort.

"Apparently, we have another incursion." The fox replied with a sigh.

"I suppose it wasn't exactly an invitation?"

"You suppose right, Fluff." He said, while turning around and beginning to descend the stairs.  
He suddenly stopped halfway and turned around.  
"Do you need a paw?" He asked motioning toward his injured leg.

"No, thank you, I can do this." She replied firmly.  
It was just a flight of stairs, she didn't need help.

"As you wish. But we don't have all day!" Nick said over his shoulder.

"Har har" Was the bunny's only reply as she slowly followed the fox.

* * *

 **INTERNET CAFE' "THE MOUSE", RAINFOREST DISTRICT, 6:05 PM**

"What is a Quetazolactus?"

"It's pronounced _Quetzalcoatlus._ It was one of the largest flying reptiles to ever roam the Earth." Connor replied to the voice behind him, keeping his attention focused on the monitor of his PC.

"And why are reading about that dinosaur?" A second voice asked.

With an annoyed sigh, the red panda turned around to face his two interlocutors: the two mammals in front of him couldn't be more different.  
One was a slender, scruffy weasel wearing a tank top and shorts, while the other was a portly honey badger with thick glasses.

"First, it wasn't a dinosaur, it was a pterosaur. And second, it's for an assignment a professor gave us." Connor replied, lying.

"Yeah, whatever." The weasel said, waving his paw dismissively. "Look, I need a favor. Can you make me more DVDs ?"

"What? I thought you said you had found a job. A real one. Duke, do you really want to go back to selling bootleg movies on the street?" Connor asked to incredulous.  
He knew the weasel and the honey badger, Duncan, since they were child. Even when their lives went different way, they kept in touch and hang out together from time to time.

"Hey, it's not my fault. Apparently, the client I used to work for is out of business, I have to pay for the food somehow." He growled back.

"Fine. I'll have them by the day after tomorrow. But this is the last time, agreed?" Connor said, as he had the previous twenty times.

"Sure." Duke replied, not convincing at all.

In the meanwhile, Duncan had sat at his table.  
"So, what have you being doing lately? You're never online on Stail."

"I know, I'm sorry, but I... have been busy. Studying."

"But the semester has just began!"

"Well..." Connor interrupted as his phone rang.  
He unlocked it and saw a message from Abby, informing him there was a new possible incursion in Tundratown.  
 _Thank goodness. Saved by an anomaly.  
_ "I'm sorry. I've got to go. See you soon!" Connor said as he quickly collected his things and left in a hurry, almost stomping on the mice who owned the place in the process.

"That was like, super-weird." Duncan said to Duke.

"Yeah, he is up to something. I think we should keep an eye on him..."Duke replied, following the red panda as he walked away outside of the café's window.

* * *

 **BIG MANSION, TUNDRATOWN, 7:00 PM**

"I apologize for being late." Connor said as he entered the room, escorted by Koslov.  
Nick, Judy, Abby and Finnick were already there.

Nick turned to look at him.  
"Don't worry, Red. Now, take a sit, looks like it's story time!" The fox said, just before Judy elbowed him in the side.

"Please, Mr. Big, tell us why we're here." Judy said, ignoring the muffled complaints Nick gave her as he held his side.

The shrew, sitting on a small chair positioned over a bear sized desk, nodded slightly, and began talking.  
"Last night, two of my mammals where near the banks of the Volpa river, and were having a... conversation with a wolf who owned me money."

"Did the conversation involve cement shoes?" Nick asked, but quieted immediately as Raymond and Kevin growled at him.

"As I was saying, they were confronting him when something big emerged from the river and tried to snatch the wolf from their paws with his teeth-filled mouth. It missed only because of their good reflexes. The thing quickly disappeared back into the river, and never came back. However, I supposed calling you to check it out wouldn't be a bad idea."

"We'll take the case, but only at one condition: the use of lethal weapons against the creatures must be reduced to the minimum." Nick replied.

"Why?" Koslov asked, taking a step forward.

"Because we don't know what effect it could have on history. We already risked a lot with those insects."

"What does it means?"The bear asked, confused.

"What the professor is trying to say is that killing those creature before their time might affect the cause-effect chain of events that has led to the present as we know it." Connor intervened.  
Then, upon seeing a still confused look on Koslov's face, but that he was also paying attention to him, he went on.  
"These creatures are like loose threads: pull the wrong one, history unravels."

"So we must try to put them back where they came from." The bear concluded.

"Exactly." The red panda nodded satisfied.

"Well done, Red." Nick said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Now, bring us to the place of the sighting, will you?"

* * *

 **VOLPA'S BANK, TUNDRATOWN, 7:45 PM**

Judy eyed the water warily.  
Her reflection looked back at her from the dark surface of the river, when another figure walked beside it.  
She turned to see that Nick had reached her.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked her. "You're keeping distant from the rest of the group."

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just that this darn hurting leg is slowing me down." She replied annoyed, as she reprised walking

"Do you want me to carry you?" Nick said, the tone in her voice letting her know clearly that he was trying to get on her nerves.

"No thanks. I'm no damsel in distress." She said as she glowered at him.

"Oh, I had figured that out!" He replied, chuckling. "You are a rebellious bunny cop who also secretly fights dangerous creatures from the past. Thinking about it, you are lucky that limping for a few days is all what has happened to you. I bet you go sky diving in your free time!"

"Free time? Who has it? Between my job and this, I can barely sleep!" She replied.  
It was meant as a joke, but it wasn't far from the truth.  
After a few seconds of silence, Nick spoke again.

"And how long do you think you can keep doing both?" Nick asked, sincere worry in is voice.

"As of now, I'm handling it just fine." She replied quickly, not wanting to linger on that argument. It was something that had already crossed her mind, but the doe had tried not to think too much about it.

"But look at you! You are going after some sort of sea serpent limping!" He said, coming to an halt in front of her, gesturing with his paw toward her injured leg.

"Nick, I appreciate you caring for me, it's really sweet, but you don't need to, really." She said, holding his extended paw in her own.  
That contact seemed to startle him, as he retracted his paw immediately.

"I'm not caring for you. I just worry that I'll have to carry you when the chasing begins because you keep being sloppy on your job." He said, recovering his usual smug.

" _Sloppy?_ " She asked, incredulous.  
She raised one finger, ready to lecture him, but was interrupted by Finnick and the others approaching.

"No sign of creatures here. If it was a reptile, probably disliked the cold water went back to his warmer home." The fennec announced.

"And there are no magnetic fields, so the anomaly must have closed as well." Connor added, rolling up his sleeve to show his wrist-compass, which properly pointed North.

"Yeah, looks like this time we got off easy." Abby said relieved.

Judy smiled at the good news, but her smile faded as Koslov's phone rang.  
The bear picked up the call, listened in silence for a few second and then replied with a quick "Copy that."  
He then turned his attention on Judy and the rest of the group.  
"We got another incursion. There has been a victim."

* * *

 **ICEBERG AVENUE, TUNDRATOWN, 10 MINUTES EARLIER**

Each district in Zootopia had some peculiar traits that contributed to their uniqueness.  
One of those was Tundratown exclusive means of transportation: ice caps.  
The white blocks of frozen water floated along a network of small canals, similar to a subway one, which replaced actual roads where they would cover in too much ice and snow to be actually considered safe for cars to travel on.

Tess had been an ice cap commute for ages now.  
The moose stepped forward as the snow leopard preceding her in the queue boarded a free ice cap.  
She had to wait just a few seconds as another unoccupied block floated before her: Tess quickly hopped on it.  
The moose checked the watch on her wrist.  
It was dinner time, and she was starving.  
Hopefully, she would be home soon enough.

She snapped out of her thoughts as a sudden light hit her in the eyes: at first, Tess thought it had been a lamp reflecting upon the snow or the ice, but she then realized it came from underwater.  
The moose knew it was dangerous to lean from the edges of the ice caps, but she nonetheless carefully extended her head over its side, trying to see what was causing the glimmer.

However, she saw something else entirely: Tess could clearly make out a large shape moving beneath her.  
The moose had barely the time to gasp as the water around her exploded, concealing Tess from the rest of the world.

When the water settled, her ice cap floated empty, its once white surface now strained with fresh blood, the liquid slowly dying red the cold water too.

Twenty minutes later, the team arrived on the place of the attack but once again, both the predator and the anomaly had vanished, and Tess along with them.

* * *

 **RESTAURANT "KOSLOV'S PLACE", TUNDRATOWN, 8:00 PM**

The polar bear watched as the five smaller mammals finished eating the last bits of their meals, all looking down, the rabbit more than the others.  
Koslov could see why.  
He was used to see death, he had personally killed many times, but this death felt off even to him.  
There was no reason behind it, no motive.  
That poor moose had found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time.  
Thankfully, Mr. Big's influence once again helped calm things down, but the shrew had been crystal clear he wanted results.  
So, Koslov had brought the team to his restaurant, which mainly worked as a facade for some of his illicit activities, to let them eat something and come up with a plan.  
The place was usually closed at that hour, so no one would have disturbed them.  
The bear closed by, to listen to what they where saying.

"Are you sure it was the same anomaly and the same creature?" the otter asked.  
From what Koslov had understood, she was some sort of reptile expert.  
Apparently, she had kicked a giant bug in the face.  
She had guts, one could see that at first glance.

"I'm not a hundred percent positive, but yes, I think so." Nick replied.  
The hint of a smile crept on Koslov's face at the memory of the kit version of the fox running around in that very place years before.  
The bear would have never guessed he'd grow up into a professor, but there he was.  
However, he seemed to have lost part of the joy that shone in his eyes as a cub, probably due to the loss of his wife.

"Great, now the anomalies can move around too. This was almost starting become boring." The fennec fox remarked sarcastically.  
He basically was for Nick what Koslov was for Mr. Big: his right-paw mammal.  
He had kept the others alive so far, which meant he was good at it.  
It was a good news: at least someone could help him keeping the team safe.

"We don't know if they all do. Maybe this is just a really unstable iteration of the phenomenon." The red panda, Connor, stated.  
Koslov was actually a bit fond of him: just one week before, he talked a group of polar bears into following his lead to help his friend and tracked down the anomaly with a small compass on his wrist, ultimately rescuing them from certain death.  
Beneath that bumbling look, there was a very clever and resourceful mammal.

"It doesn't matter right now. We must find a way to locate where it will pop up next. Any suggestion on how we can do that?" The cop, the bunny, asked.  
Now, that was a remarkable mammal.  
Maybe Nick was the brain of the team, but she was definitely its leader.  
It was clear from the way everybody looked at her when she spoke.  
She was determined, and strong.  
 _"Maybe not enough to take me down, but she wouldn't come down quietly either"._ The bear thought to himself.

"I- I honestly have no idea." Nick sighed with dismay.  
Silence once again fell upon the group, when a sudden clink let everyone know that someone had entered the restaurant.

"Daddy, I'm home!" A young voice chirped as a small, white bear made his way toward Koslov.  
The bigger bear knelt down to hug the cub.

"Hey, champ. How was your day?" Koslov asked as the young bear threw himself in his arms.

"Fine. Henry's birthday party was awesome, there were many..." The cub trailed off as he noticed the others mammals sitting at the table in front of them.

"Morris, say 'hi' to our guests." Koslov said.

"Hi" Morris shyly greeted the five mammals, who all waved back.

"Now, why don't you go to do your homework. Dad needs to talk to this gentlemammals." Koslov suggested kindly.  
Morris nodded and left, after waving again to Judy and the others.

Koslov watched his son leave, then turned back to the team.  
"My son. One of the best thing in my life. I'd do anything to protect him. But right now, I cannot do it without your help. I won't even pretend to understand what is going on with those anomalies, but if someone can figure it out, that's you."

The five smaller mammals looked at the polar bear, speechless.  
Judy was the first to recover.  
"Well...I don't know what to say... but, I mean, look at us: we are powerless right now! Sweet cheese and crackers, I'm still shacking at the idea of what happened to that poor moose..." The doe said, lifting her paw in front of her to prove it.  
Then, she stared at it, almost hypnotized, before her ears shot up and her eyes widened with realization.  
"I'm shacking..."

"Yeah, Carrots, we've got it:" Nick replied.

"No, listen! You once described to me the anomalies like some sort of 'temporal earthquackes', right?"

The fox nodded, curiosity in his eyes.

"So, earthquakes happens along lines between continents, right?" She went on.

"Sort of; there are so called 'fault lines', where two tectonic plates meet, and earthquake happens when these plate shift along each others." Connor specified.

"What if it's the same thing for anomalies?" Judy said.

"Temporal fault lines? That's... actually brilliant!"Nick replied, smile returning on his muzzle."Koslov, we need a pen, a ruler and a map of Tundratown!"

The bear smirked, and nodded, quickly giving Nick what he had asked for.  
The six mammals unfolded the map on the table.  
"Okay, so, the first time the anomaly popped out here" Nick said as he marked the place where Big's mammals had seen the creature the first time "and then here" He added, marking where the moose had been attacked.  
"Now, if we link the two place with a line..." He went on, using the ruler to connect the two dots on the map.

"We find where the anomaly might reopen next time!" Judy finished Nick's sentence.

"Calm down your enthusiasm. It's just a conjecture. And it just narrow the place where to look a bit. It could appear anywhere on that map!" Finnick argued.

"What about here?" Abby asked, pointing a location on the map.

" 'Lake Labynkyr'." Connor read out aloud "It makes sense. It's one of the biggest body of water crossed by the fault line."

"It's a stretch, but it's better than doing nothing." Judy agreed. "Koslov, would you mind drive us there?"

"Not even a bit. I knew you could do it." He replied as he left his restaurant, followed by the others.

* * *

 **LAKE LABYNKYR, TUNDRATOWN, 8:45 PM**

Sarah loved ice skating.  
And loved even more Katrina, the beautiful reindeer who was skating holding her hooves.  
The deer watched her mate in the eyes, and she smiled at back at her.  
The night was chilly, they were in Tundratown after all, but she couldn't care less.  
Sarah was having the time of her life, skating on the frozen lake with her love, no one else in sight.  
They skidded to an halt, and Katrina watched her and kissed her.  
"I love you" The reindeer told the doe.  
Sarah opened her mouth to reply, but she trailed off as a light suddenly turned on beneath her.  
Both she and Katrina looked down: whatever was the source of the light, was deep under the ice.  
They awed as the refracted light began dancing around them, making the moment even more magical then it had been before.

Sarah's attention was drawn away as a car pulled up at the edge of the lake.  
In the dark, she could make out various mammals get off it.  
"We're too late!" A male voice said.  
"You two! Get off the ice! Now!" A second, feminine voice shouted.  
She was about to answer, when something crashed through the ice beneath them, sending the two flying for a moment.  
Sarah lost the grip on her girlfriend hooves,before falling into the freezing, dark water.

* * *

Abby watched in horror as the creature emerged from the ice, throwing the two cervid into the air.  
One of them fell right through the hole in the ice the creature had made surfacing, while the other landed on the ice a few meters away.  
"Abby, Connor, take the one on the ice to safety. Koslov, with them. Finnick, Nick, with me to the one in the water." Judy quickly barked, while already sprinting (as much as one can sprint while limping) on the ice.

"Do you have a rope?" Nick asked Koslov.

"I do." The bear replied, as he opened the trunk of the limo, and Abby was afraid to ask why he actually did have it.  
he produced the requested cord from it and threw it to the fox, who catched it and hurried behind the bunny, Finnick running at his side.

"Come on, we must hurry too!" Abby told Connor and Koslov.  
The three began to run toward the reindeer, still laying on the ice, but they all stopped as the ice beneath Koslov began creaking.

"It won't hold my weight. You two go, I'll follow you from the shore!" The bear said.  
Abby and Connor nodded and reprised their sprint.  
In a matter of second they reached the reindeer: Abby knelt beside her, ignoring the cold ice stinging her feet and legs.

"Are you okay? Can you hear me?" the otter asked, but received no answer; the mammal was out cold.  
She put one paw under her head, and felt some warm liquid soaking her fur: blood.  
"She hit her head and she's bleeding!" She told Connor.

"Okay, we have to move her, but she is way to heavy for us to lift!" He replied.

"Let's make her slide!" Abby replied.  
Connor nodded and began pushing the unconscious animal.  
Abby quickly reached his side and helped him.  
Thanks to the ice, the ordeal was way easier than it would have been in normal condition.  
With the corner of her eye, she saw Finnick diving into the water and emerging a few seconds later with the apparently unarmed deer.  
Then, she also noticed Judy and Nick frantically gesturing and yelling something at her and Connor.  
She realized why only when she saw an ominous dark shape moving beneath the ice layer, heading their way.

"Connor, we must move faster! It's following us!"She told him, voice reeking with urgency.  
A fearful expression appeared on Connor's face, probably reflecting the one on her own.  
While pushing with all her might, Abby wondered why the creature had come after them, but she soon realized the answer: the blood trail they were living behind them.  
Somehow, the creature had smelled it.

They kept running, but the creature was closing in.  
Thankfully, the shore was too: only a few meters, and they would be safe.  
Koslov was waiting there.  
however, Abby could feel the creature swimming in the water below them; they couldn't make it.  
"Connor, push her!" She yelled.  
The two small mammals shoved with all their might, sending the reindeer sliding right between Koslov's arms.  
He took the passed out mammal and dragged her away from the ice.

Abby and Connor tried to make a run for the shore, but it was too late.  
The enormous creature broke through the ice, shattering the surface in many floating blocks.  
Abby used her small claws to hold onto her ice cap and avoided being knocked off it.  
"Stay still!" Connor shouted her from another ice block not far away.

She froze, as the creature swam right below her: it had a massive, triangular head attached to a long, serpentine body covered with thick, green scales  
Four fins and a broad tail propelled it.  
"It's a _Mosasaur_." She heard Connor whisper "The deadliest sea predator of the Cretaceous."

"Great. And this helps us how?" She hissed back, without taking her eyes from the reptiles, which was now slowly swimming in circles, likely trying to locate them.

Connor ignored her, instead keeping his focus on the creature; when the mosasaur swam a little further away from him, Abby saw him reach for a smaller piece of ice floating near his own.  
He carefully got up on his feet, and motioned for Abby to do the same, mouthing a 'trust me'.  
She stared at his face, and even in the darkness, she could see a resolute look on his face: he thought he knew what he was doing.

Abby slowly got to her feet, balancing onto the ice cap she was on: when she was sure she wasn't going to fall into the water, she turned her look back to Connor.  
He looked back at her, and lifted three fingers on his empty hand: then, he began a countdown with them.  
Abby readied herself to spring to action whatever the red panda was planning to do.  
When the last finger went down, Connor other arm drew and arch in the air, as he threw the small piece of ice as far as he managed: it landed in the water with a thud, and the Mosasaur turned toward it.

"JUMP!" Connor shouted her right after he had lured the reptile away.

Without further invitation, Abby began hop from a block of ice to the other, heading toward the safety of the shore.  
But the new commotion they were causing once again gained the attention of the mosasaur, which rapidly turned back and swam in their direction.  
Abby gave a quick glance over her shoulder, but in doing so missed the landing on the next ice block: she slipped and fell hard on her back, air briefly knocked out of her.  
When she recovered, it was already too late.  
The mosasaur jumped out of the water, mouth gaping and filled with sharp teeth which shone at the moonlight, ready to eat her.

Then Connor landed right beside her: the momentum from his landing made the ice block float sideways, and the creature missed them by inches.  
They both quickly got up and together closed the distance which separated them from the shore, where Koslov grabbed them one in each paw and tugged them with him away from the water, as the Mosasaur made one last attempt to snatch at them, before sinking back into the lake.  
Abby didn't dare to move until she saw the silhouette of the prehistoric predator vanish back into the anomaly.

Only then, she got up and hugged Connor.  
"Thank you, you saved my life!"

"You're welcome." He replied, hugging her back.  
"Does this mean I can stay a little longer at your place?"

She sighed, somewhat amused.  
"Fine, but you better be looking for a place of your own, or I'll kick you out of my house, eventually." She said, ending the hug.

"And can we also got out on a dinner? Finnick took you out on a dinner last time he saved your life, so maybe-"

"Don't push your luck, Connor!" She warned him, still smiling.

* * *

 **LAKE LABYNKYR, TUNDRATOWN, 9:15 PM**

Judy watched as the ambulance drove away, carrying the two cervid to the nearest hospital.  
The paramedics had assured them that both would have lived.  
Then she turned back toward the the lake, where the faint glow of the anomaly could still be seen.

"This time is lasting longer then than previously." She noted.

Nick nodded.  
"Yeah, maybe it has stabilized. Hopefully, when it'll close, it will for good."

She didn't say anything, instead keeping staring at the underwater light.  
Steam was constantly surging from the water above the anomaly, which Nick has explained as the result of the warmer water on the other side of the portal flowing in the much colder lake.  
He had also addressed the cold as the most likely reason the creature had already returned to his time, it being a cold-blooded animal.

Suddenly, she noted some ripples on the surface of the lake as something emerged from the anomaly; at first, she feared the Mosasaur had crossed through the anomaly again, but the thing that had just appeared was smaller and still.  
Nick and Finnick had noticed that too, as they both mobilized to recover the object.  
They fished it out of the water and quickly dragged it back on the shore.

Judy produced a small flashlight from his belt and turned it on, allowing everybody to better make out the object: it was wrapped in some fabric, and was a bit longer than Nick was tall.  
It also emanated a foul, stinging smell.  
When they unwrapped it, the stench grew even stronger, and what was contained inside the fabric almost made her loose her dinner: a shapeless mass of flesh, fur and bones.  
At the sight, both Nick and Finnick took a step back, horrified and disgusted.

When she finally was finally sure she would not throw up as soon as she would open her mouth, she dared to ask: "What is this?"

"I'm afraid this is the moose that was attacked earlier. Or what's left of her." Nick replied, slowly pulling out a damaged, but still recognisable, antler out of the blob.

"What does it mean?" Koslov asked.

"Some reptiles cough up what the part of their meal they cannot digest." Abby explained, somewhat scared.  
Judy could see why: not even an hour before, she went really close to share that very fate.  
The doe was on the verge of the tears, when something caught her attention: the light of her flashlight reflected on something stuck in the partially digested remains.  
Resorting to all her resort, she extended her arm and extracted the object: it was a small silver locket.  
Hoping to be able to at least return a belonging to the family of the victim, she opened it, but what she saw was completely unexpected.  
Inside it, there was the photo of two mammals, smiling and hugging each other.  
A red fox and an arctic vixen.

"Nick, come and look at this!" She told him, handing him the locket.  
The fox took it, but something felt off to her: he barely reacted when he saw the locket, and he surely didn't seem surprised at all.

"Nick, what's going on?" She asked, inquisitive.

"It's a message. She wants me to meet her on the other side." He replied.

"How can you be so sure?"

Nick looked at her for several seconds, before giving up.  
"Because she has already contacted me before." He said, as he produced a small piece of paper from his pocket.

She grabbed it and unfolded it: on it, a few lines, inviting Nick to reach Skye through the anomaly.  
"You should have told us!" She told him, angered.

"Oh, really Carrots? And why? It's my life, my wife we're talking about! I have the right to do what I think is right!" Nick growled back.

"How can you be so selfish?!" Judy said indignant.  
"There are lives at stakes! This isn't just about you! Skye could have priceless information about anomalies! We had the right to know!" She blurted out.  
She panted hard, staring in his eyes: the tension between the two was palpable.  
"I shouldn't have trusted a..." Judy began, but caught herself before finishing the sentence.

Nick's anger was briefly replaced by genuine hurt, before shifting back to rage.  
"A what? A _fox!?_ Did you really just said that!?"

"Nick, I?m sorry... I didn't mean to..." She began, slowly reaching for him, but he caught her arm, making her flinch.

"Stop talking. You've said enough." He cut her off, releasing her wrist.

She watched as Nick walked past her toward Koslov.

"Please call Mr. Big. I need some scuba diving gear."

* * *

 **CRETACEOUS, 75 MILLIONS YEARS AGO**

The warmer water that welcomed Nick when he crossed the anomaly was a relief: he was convinced he would have become a fox popsicle before he had managed to reach the portal.  
Taking another breath from the nozzle, Nick scanned his new surrounding for dangers.  
Seeing none, he relaxed a bit, lowering his harpoon gun.  
As Finnick had kept telling him before he dove, the weapon had only one round and a relatively short range, so he had to careful not to waste it.  
He swam forward, above a bunch coral and rocks, heading where the water became more shallow.

Finally, Nick reached a point where he could stand with his upper body outside the water.  
He checked the rope attached to him via a belt, which had his other end fixed to a winch on the other side of the anomaly, meant to retrieve him when the two hours Mr. Big had accorded him would run out, and which was also the only thing anchoring him to the present.

" _At least they agreed to let me go on my own."_ He thought as he walked out from the prehistoric sea to the beach.  
The thin line of sand ended almost immediately, making way for high and irregular rocks.  
He removed his oxygen tank and his scuba mask and left them inside a small niche in on of the rocks, and proceeded inland, following a natural passage way between the boulders.

After some time, the passage lead him to a lock-like clearing, its bottom occupied by a shallow lake.  
Before being able to inspect it thoroughly, however, a high-pitched squawk caught his attention: standing a few meters from him, there was what Nick's mind registered at first as the nightmarish cousin of a penguin.  
Almost as tall as him, the creature stood on two short legs, had wings-like fins as arms and a long neck, on top of which sat a small head.  
From the side of his long beak, pointy teeth protruded.

The animal waddled on its short legs toward Nick and squeaked again.  
The fox aimed the harpoon gun at it, ready to fire it in case of attack.  
Another pair of the same animal appeared from behind a nearby rock: odds where against him.  
Gulping nervously, Nick took a cautious step back, when a small pebble fell right in the middle of the three animals, which began to waddle unsteadily toward the source of the noise, ending up falling on top of each other, hissing and snapping at one another.

" _Hesperornis._ Scary up close, but cumbersome and really stupid."

Nick turned around, toward the lake, where the voice had come from.  
In the water, naked, a white-furred vixen was swimming.  
"Hi Nick." Skye greeted him.

* * *

 **LAKE LABYNKYR, TUNDRATOWN, 10:00 PM**

Finnick sat near the the winch, his gaze locked onto the anomaly a few meters away in the lake.

"Any news?" Judy asked as she sat beside him, offering him a cup of hot chocolate.

"Nope." The fennec replied, checking his watch. "Give him some time. He has been away for less than an hour."  
Judy simply nodded; her big sad eyes, however, let him know that there was more.

Finnick sipped some chocolate, then spoke again.  
"Are you okay?" He asked the doe, reluctantly.  
He wasn't good when it came to feelings.

"The truth? No, I'm not. The way I assaulted Nick, earlier... I've been a jerk." The doe replied, her long ears drooping.

Finnick laughed heartly.

"What?!" Judy asked him, a bit miffed.

" A _jerk_?! What are you, five? You've been a bitch." He replied.

Judy opened her mouth to reply, outraged, but then shut it, lowering her gaze.  
Apparently, she thought he was right.

"But so was he." Finnick added after a few seconds." He should have told us about Helen. I cared about her too."  
"As for what you told him, you touched a very sensitive nerve. He won't forget what you said, but he'll forgive you, eventually." He finished, offering her a smile.  
She smiled back at him, before getting to her feet and leaving Finnick alone again to look for any sign of Nick.

* * *

 **CRETACEOUS SHORE, 75 MILlIONS YEARS AGO**

"You can turn now, I'm decent." Nick heard Skye call from behind him.  
He looked at her: she had aged, but she was still beautiful.  
Not the same vixen he had fell in love with, though: there was something different in her, something more... wild.

"You look good, Nick." She told him, snapping him back to reality.

"Let's skip the small talk. You let me think you were dead. Why didn't you come back?" Nick asked, bitterness in his voice.

"Why are you really upset, Nick? Because I didn't come back, or because I didn't share my discovery with you?" Skye asked him with a sly smile.  
Nick simply stared back at her, without saying a word.  
Skye sighed.  
"If I had told you, sweetheart, you would have thrown all this to the world, while I wasn't ready to share it."

"And now what do you want from me?" Nick asked.

"Who said I wanted something ?" She replied.

"You did fine on your own for ten years, and now you come back all of a sudden, asking for me to come and see you: you need something."

"Ah, always the smart one." She said, chuckling "Maybe I just want company, you back in my life."

"You could have asked sooner. You left me to grieve you. I attended your funeral." He told her angrily.

"Was it good?" She asked.

"In hindsight, I would have opted for a cheaper coffin." He replied, the hint of a smile briefly showing on Nick's muzzle.  
"The point is that I don't know who you are anymore."

"Well, the Skye you knew is dead. I've changed, I give you that. But I've see so many wonders, things you wouldn't believe. There are more anomaly than you can imagine out there. I know how to find them, and I can show you all of it, I'm only asking you to come with me."

Nick thought about it.  
The idea had an appeal for him: after all, what could offer him his old life?  
But just like the last time, when he had wanted to look for Skye in the Permian, Judy's word guided his decision.  
 _"I need you."  
_ They almost erased the resentment he had for her after their last argument.  
"I'm sorry, but I can't. People count on me to protect lives on the other side. We could use your help."

"Are you _rejecting_ me?" She asked, more confused than hurt.

"I'm asking you to come back with me." He said softly.

She scoffed.  
"I'm offering you the key to time, Nick. How can you refuse this?" She asked shocked, staring at him.

"Hey, don't look at me like I'm the crazy one." He said as he turned to leave" You are the one who wrapped her invitation in a half-digested corpse. That was kind of a mood killer."

* * *

 **LAKE LABYNKYR, TUNDRATOWN, 10:30 PM**

Abby leant against the limo which had brought them there.  
In front of her, Judy was pacing nervously back and fort.  
"Relax." She told her "I'm sure he'll be back any moment now."

"Yeah, sure, I know. " She replied, without stopping.

Abby studied the doe a little longer, before asking: "What's between you two?"  
Judy immediately came to a stop.

"Wha- Nothing. We're just friend." She said, frantically waving her open paws in front of her.

"Okay. Calm down. I was just asking." Abby giggled.

"And what about you and Finnick?" Judy asked back, smugly.

The otter shrugged.  
"Nothing serious. We spent a nice evening together, that's it."

Judy was about to say something, but she trailed off, as another limo parked near them.  
From it, Kevin, Raymond and two more polar bears got down, followed by Mr. Big.  
"Boys, suit up." The shrew barked, and Raymond and Kevin produced two wetsuit and began wearing them.

* * *

 **CRETACEOUS SEA, 75 MILLIONS YEARS AGO**

Nick knew he had to move: he was running out of time.  
 _"I won't let that bunny scold me because I was late!"_

Swimming as fast as he could, he finally was in sight of the anomaly, when he registered a movement with the corner of his eye.  
His field of vision was limited, so he had to fully turn around to see what had caught his attention.  
When he did, his eyes widened in fear, as his view was filled with the open mouth of a Mosasaur closing around him.

* * *

 **LAKE LABYNKYR, TUNDRATOWN, 10:45 PM  
**

"These weren't the terms of our agreement." Judy insisted, facing Mr. Big.

"I'm sorry, my dear, but I don't think you've understand your position here. You don't get to decide anything, and if you do, it's only because I've allowed it." He replied calmly, and yet threatening.

"Well..." Judy trailed off, as the metallic rope attached to the winch tensed out of the blue.  
Forgetting her discussion with the mob boss, she ran beside the fennec fox.  
"Finnick, what is going on?"

"Don't know, but this isn't a good sign." He replied, as he pushed some button on the side of the machine, which slowly began retracting the rope.

"Why?" She dared to ask.

"In fishing, when the line tense up, means that the fish ate the bait." He replied worried.

Judy gasped as she realized what he was implying , and turned her attention toward the anomaly.  
Sure enough, a familiar, serpentine shape came through underwater.

"Ready your weapon!" Judy shouted, and five weapon clicked behind her .

But the creature seemed to be extremely still, letting the winch drag it.  
When it was mere inches from the shore, Judy and Finnick backed up from the water, as the Mosasaur began resurfacing, the other end of the rope in its closed mouth.  
As it did, Judy realized the reason it wasn't moving: an harpoon was sprouting from its skull right between his lifeless eyes.  
The corpse of the mosasaur eventually bogged down on the shore.  
Judy slowly inched toward its head, when the mouth of the creature suddenly popoed open.  
Judy jumped back, while the polar bears aimed at the reptile, ready to shoot.

"Hold your fire!" Nick shouted as he rolled out of the maw of the creature.

Everyone sighed in relief.  
Judy walked next to the fox, and punched him in the shoulder.  
"OUCH!" He yelled in pain.

"Don't ever do it again!" She warned him, jabbing her index at him.

"I'm glad to see you too, Carrots. And don't blame me, Finnick told me to wait until I was really close before firing." he said with a smirk.

"I assumed it was obvious I meant before becoming a snack!" He replied chuckling.

"Did you find Skye?" Mr. Big cut in.

"Yeah, I did. She refused my offer to come back." He answered, his expression darkening.

"I see. Raymond, Kevin, you know what to do." Mr. Big said, snapping his fingers.  
The two bears nodded, and lowered the scuba masks on their muzzle, before diving in the lake.

"Hey! What are you doing! You told me you'd left her alone if she didn't want to come!" Nick protested, walking up to Mr. Big.

"Nick, I'm sorry, we tried to stop him!" Judy said, trying to hold him back.

"Nicky, listen-" Mr. Big began.

"No, enough of your crap. Call them back or I'll go after them myself." Nick snapped.

"I see." Mr. Big sighed, slowly shacking his head.  
"Koslov, take care of him."

* * *

Nick woke up, his head pounding.  
He slowly got in a sitting position.

"Hey, how are you?" Judy said, as she noticed him waking up.

"Been better." He replied, slowly looking around.  
He, Judy, Connor, Abby and Finnick where in the back of a limo.

"What happened?" He asked.

"The usual: your big mouth didn't shut up, so Koslov turned it off for you. Then they locked all of us in here" Finnick replied with a snort.

"How long have I been out ?"

"thirty minutes, give or take." Judy answered.

"They're coming back!" Connor, who was watching outside from the rear windowinformed them.

Nick got up, and they all reached Connor.  
Anger began to fill Nick as he watched Kevin and Raymond emerging from the lake: in their hold, Skye was squirming and growling, trying to free herself.

* * *

 **NEXT TIME:** With Skye now in Mr. Big's custody, the team learns from her of a new imminent threat.  
Meanwhile, Connor's friends finds out about his secrets in the worst way possible.

* * *

 **NOTES:** First of all: Merry Christmas!  
This time, I managed to get the chapter out in less then a month, even if by a few days!  
I'm getting better at this!

Now, some trivia about this chapter: I forgot to tell in the previous episode that the compass Connor is wearing on his wrist was actually supposed to show up in the series, but never did: I liked the idea, so I put it in the story.  
Also, the name of the lake in this chapter isn't made up: it really exists, and a monster is said to live in it (I love legends and stuff).

I hope you are enjoying the story so far, let me know what you think!

TheNightManager


	4. Episode 4: Pull The Trigger

**EPISODE 4: PULL THE TRIGGER**

 **ZPD HEADQUARTERS, BOGO'S OFFICE, 4:30 PM**  
"Judy slowly pushed open the huge door to ZPD Chief's office.  
Bogo was waiting for her, sitting at his desk.  
"You wanted to see me, Chief?" The doe asked, her voice betraying how exhausting, both physically and emotionally, had been the day for her.

"Yes, Hopps. Sit." The cape buffalo gestured toward the chair in front of the desk.  
His face wore the usual stern expression, but there was a kind note to his voice.  
Judy walked to the chair, still slightly limping, and briefly struggled to climb on the oversized chair before sitting down.  
"Do you know why you are here?" Bogo asked her.

"Because of what happened in Happytown, I suppose." Judy replied quietly, her head hanging down.  
She was struggling to fight back the tears.

"That's correct. I want you to fill me in on the events the lead to that." He confirmed with a nod of his head.

"Sir, with all due respect, I'd rather not. Beside, it's all written down in my report." She said, still not daring to watch him in the eyes.

"Yes, I've read it." He replied, producing the file from one of the desk drawer " But I want to hear it from you. Start from the moment you woke up, don't leave out any detail."  
Judy took a deep, trembling breath, then began to narrate.  
"Actually, I haven't had any sleep last night. The pain in my leg was driving me crazy." She admitted.  
Well, maybe _admitting_ wasn't exactly the best way to put it, since most of what Judy was going to tell Bogo was a lie.

* * *

 _Judy and the rest of the team had watched as an unwilling Skye had been dragged by Kevin and Raymond inside the limo parked next to the one they had been trapped in._  
 _Then, both vehicles' engine had started, and they had left the lake's shore heading for Mr. Big's mansion.  
The journey had been short and quiet: no one had been in the mood for talking, not even Connor.  
They had just realized what a dangerous ally the mob boss actually was.  
Judy had been sitting near Nick: the fox had appeared to be calm, his expression flat, but the frantic and erratic movements of his tail told another story entirely.  
She would have wanted to comfort him, but after their bitter altercation, she had been afraid she might have only make things worst.  
_

 _When they had finally arrived to the mansion, Judy and the others had been brought in a small living room, adorned with elegant wooden furniture and a lit fireplace.  
The only door of the room had been locked behind them, once again trapping the five mammals.  
Waiting was the only thing they could do.  
"Is-is he going to harm us?" Connor had asked, fear creeping in his voice._

 _"Don't think so. The bastard need us, he likes it or not." Finnick had replied "He just doesn't want us in his way right now."_

 _That had been the only hint of conversation that had happened in that room for hours.  
Eventually, Connor and Abby had fell asleep on a sofa; Finnick had kept searching the room for any possible way out or weapon: apparently, he hadn't been so sure they had not being in danger, after all.  
Judy had been sitting on the floor, observing Nick across the room: he had still been wearing the wetsuit, and had been sitting near the fireplace, trying to dry himself up.  
When the clock had stroke four in the morning, the doe had finally gathered enough courage to get up and sit near the fox._

 _At first, Nick hadn't given any signal that he had registered her presence near him, simply staring at the roaring fire.  
Then, as Judy had sat near him, the fox slightly turned his face and had looked at her with his emerald eyes, filled with sadness and anger.  
"Hey Carrots."_

 _"Hey Nick."  
An awkward silence had followed for the next few seconds.  
_

 _"So, were you planning to have a conversation, or you just wanted to warm your paws near the fire?" Nick had asked, breaking the silence.  
_

 _Judy had cleared her throat.  
"I just... wanted to apologize. What I said to you was mean, and unfair." She had said.  
Since Nick had remained quiet, she had gone on.  
"It's funny. I've spent my whole life trying to prove the prejudices against other species were rubbish, and then, I'm the first to use them against my friend.  
Maybe I'm just a dumb bunny, after all."_

 _"You are wrong." Nick had said abruptly.  
" What you said _was mean _, but not unfair. I deserved it. You trusted me, and I betrayed that trust. And for what? My wife has apparently become a lunatic who has let me think she was dead for years while she enjoyed sightseeing across prehistory." He had said with a sad sigh._

 _Judy had gave him a sympathetic smile.  
"Then, maybe we are a both dumb mammals."_

 _Nick had chuckled softly.  
"That sounds pretty accurate." Nick had replied, returning her smile.  
Judy knew full well that conversation hadn't fixed things between them, but it had been a start._

* * *

"Does it still hurt?"

"I'm sorry?" Judy replied.

"Your leg? Is the pain still bothering you?" Bogo repeated, slightly impatient.

"Oh, no, it merely sting if I touch it or I lean too much weight on it." She replied.

"Good. Proceed with your story."

"Around four o'clock, I grew tired of staring at the ceiling, so I got up and read a book, 'The Da Linci Code'." Judy said.  
Details were important to make her story more believable.

* * *

 _They had sat there for a couple more minutes, enjoying the warm emanating from the fireplace, before the door had finally opened._

 _Koslov had walked inside, making sure to block the doorway.  
"Wilde, come with me." He had flatly ordered._

 _Judy had quickly got up.  
"I'm coming with you too." She had firmly said.  
A quick glance at Nick had let her now that he wasn't going to stop her._

 _Koslov had sighed.  
"Fine. But the others stay." He agreed._

 _Judy nodded, then turned to Finnick.  
"Keep an eye on those two" The doe had said, nodding in the direction of Abby and Connor._

 _After that, Nick and Judy had followed the bear into another room: from the way it was furnished, Judy had assumed it was a study of some sort.  
In the middle of the room, there had been a bear sized desk, on top of which had been Mr. Big, sitting on his shrew-sized chair.  
Before him, Skye had been tied to a chair, and had likely been questioned all the night.  
Between the vixen and the shrew, a portion of the floor was missing, revealing instead a frozen river flowing beneath.  
"Nicky, there you are. Our guest says she is not going to talk unless you are present. And I'm glad Officer Hopps has decided to join us too!" Mr. Big had greeted them._

 _Nick had clenched his fists.  
"Did you hurt her?" He had asked._

 _"Oh, sweetheart, so you_ do _still care about me!" Skye had piped up in a mocking tone.  
"You know, I had doubted that for a moment when you sent the _Tundratown mafia _to kidnap me!" She had growled._

 _"It wasn't his fault. He tried to avoid it!" Judy had cut in in Nick's defense._

 _"I'm sorry, and you are?" Skye had asked._

 _"Judy Hopps, ZPD Officer." She had replied, straightening her back._

 _The arctic vixen eyes had widened in surprise, right before she had burst_ _into laughter._

 _"This is rich! They let_ bunny _become cops now? I've been away too long!" She managed to say between laughs._

 _This time it had been Judy who had clenched her fists.  
Luckily, Nick had spoken up before she did.  
"Yes, you have."The fox had said flatly.  
_

 _Skye had composed herself.  
"What do you want, dear?"_

 _"I already told you. We just need information. You told me you can locate anomalies. How can you do that? And why are they happening?"_

 _"None of this questions matters." She had cryptically replied._

 _"Then help us ask the right ones." Judy had said. "We are trying to save lives. Your knowledge of the anomalies could be crucial."_

 _Skye had looked at her, a mixture of curiosity and surprise in her blue eyes, but had remained quiet.  
She had said nothing for several minutes._

 _"Look, I want to help you ..." Nick had finally said._

 _"Free me, then!" She had cut him off._

 _"..._ but _I can't do that if you don't help us first!" He had continued._

 _They had stared at each other in the eyes for a few seconds.  
Then Skye had moved her gaze from Nick to Mr Big, finally landing it on Judy.  
"Fine. I'll help you." She had said with a smirk."A new anomaly has already opened. I know where it is, but I want to bring you there myself."_

 _Mr Big had scoffed.  
"I'm afraid that is out of the question."_

 _"Then have fun cleaning up the massacre a pride of saber-toothed cats will leave behind. I've seen it and trust me when I say it's not a pretty sight." She had retorted._

 _Judy hadn't needed Nick to explain her what that words meant; thousands of years ago, when their mammal ancestors where still savages, like herself had once explained in a school play, one of the most fearful predator was the Smilodon, or saber-toothed cat, cousin of modern tigers and lions and one of the most famous extinct animals._

 _"How can you be so sure this... cats will come through?" Mr Big had asked._

 _"On the other side, the anomaly has opened in their hunting ground, it's only a matter of time before they'll wander inside it." Skye had explained._

 _After that, Judy, Nick, Mr Big and Koslov had left the study, while three more polar bears had remained inside with Skye._

 _"Is it possible that she is telling the truth?" Judy had asked Nick._

 _"Yes, but I have no way to be a hundred percent sure." Nick had said._

 _"This is obviously some sort of trick. She'll just run through the anomaly at the first chance." Mr Big had replied._

 _"You can't know that. Beside, what if she's right and we just sit here while deadly predators rampage through the city?" Nick had retorted.  
_

 _"I could_ make _her tell us what she know." Mr Big had suggested._

 _Nick's shocked expression had quickly turned in one of pure anger, but Judy had intervened before he could do anything stupid.  
"No one is going to torture anyone. You're right, Big, we can't completely trust her, but we're out of options right now. People's lives are at stakes here."  
_

 _Mr Big had stared at her for several minutes, before finally sighing and nodding in agreement.  
_

 _Thirty minutes later, they had been traveling inside a limo, with Skye sitting between Kevin and Raymond, who wouldn't take their eyes off her, as she had kept giving the driver instruction on how to reach the anomaly site.  
The arctic vixen's indications had eventually lead them to the Zootennial Stadium, also known as "the water hole", because it had been designed to resemble a drop of water hitting the ground.  
The place was often home to various concert and sports event, but ,at five in the morning, it had been luckily empty.  
After Koslov had unlocked the door with a key card Mr Big had gave him before their departure from the mansion, an event which had left Judy wondering in how many places the mob boss might have freely access in Zootpia, Skye had guided them deeper inside the building, in the maze of bare concrete hallways which was the unseen backstage of every events organized in the stadium.  
The group had finally walked through a double door which had lead them inside a kitchen.  
"It's here, somewhere." Skye had announced._

 _They had looked around, but the only thing out of place had been a soft music coming from a clock radio someone had forgot to turn off the day before.  
"Red." Nick had said simply, but Connor had understood exactly what the professor wanted him to do.  
Rolling up his sleeve, he had checked his wrist compass, and had shook his head._

 _"No signs of magnetic fields here." The red panda had stated._

 _The red fox had sighed, and had turned to face Skye, opening his mouth to say something, but the vixen had been quicker.  
_

 _"It's in there." She had said, pointing at the stainless steel door of a refrigerator._

 _"Why doesn't the compass pick it up?" Judy had asked, skeptically._

 _"The steel of the door is too thick for the magnetic field to penetrate through it." She had readily replied._

 _Judy had turned and had given Nick a questioning look.  
"It's possible." He had replied, shrugging.  
_

 _"Okay,then. Koslov, open it. Everyone else, be ready." She had said, keeping her gaze on the vixen.  
The polar bear had reached the door with one paw, while holding his rifle in the other one.  
But as soon as he had opened the refrigerator, the rifle flew from his grip, sucked in by the magnetic field of the anomaly.  
Suddenly, it had been like the whole kitchen had took life, as pans, spatulas and many other metallic tools had began flying right into the shiny rift in time.  
Finnick had barely managed to save Connor from being hit by a bear-sized ladle by tugging him out of its trajectory.  
When the last tea spoon had vanished inside the anomaly, the team had quickly returned their attention to the glowing portal, but no creature had crossed it yet._

 _Skye had stepped forward, heading for the anomaly, but Judy had quickly stopped her, placing a paw on her chest.  
"Where do you think you are going?" The doe had asked._

 _"That refrigerator is filled with fish, bug-burgers and chicken. If we don't remove them soon, the smilodons on the other side could smell the meat and cross the anomaly!" Skye had explained, a little annoyed._

 _"Koslov, Raymond and Kevin, take care of it, please." Judy had said over her shoulder, without moving from the vixen's path.  
Skye had glowered at her, at which Judy had simply responded with a satisfied smirk.  
They had kept staring at each other for some time, before Judy had noticed that Nick, Finnick, Connor and Abby had been looking at the two of them._

 _"Good luck handling this, Professor." Abby had said, patting Nick on his shoulder, before walking away to help the bears, followed by a snickering Finnick and Connor.  
_

 _Judy had quickly removed her paw from Skye, and had cleared her throat.  
She had been about to apologize, when Koslov had shouted:" Something is coming through!"_

 _Judy, along with all the the mammals in the room, had turned to face the anomaly.  
_ _She had prepared for the worst, when a sound had come from the anomaly: only, instead of a mighty roar, it had been a shrill SQUAWK!  
And right then, a flock of goofy birds had waddled through the portal._

 _"Are those...dodos?" Finnick had asked, raising his brow surprised.  
The grey, funny looking birds had began to spread inside the room._

 _"Quick, catch them!" Judy had said when she had recovered from the surprise.  
Those words had snapped the others back to reality, and everyone had begun running after one of the animals each.  
The bunny has quickly jumped, grunting a little due to her injured leg, and had caught one.  
Connor and Abby had cornered a second one against the wall.  
Finnck had used is jacket as a barrier, blocking one of the dodos and pushing it toward Nick, who had trapped it under a bin.  
Finally, the three bears had surrounded a fourth birds, and Kevin had caught it.  
_ _However, as they would later discovered, one of them had managed to leave the room, taking advantage of the confusion.  
_ _Unaware of that, they had sent every other dodo back into the anomaly, except one, which Abby had found dead._

 _"How has it died?" Judy had asked saddened, looking at the body._

 _"I don't know. It seems for natural causes, but I think we should do an autopsy to make sure it didn't carry any disease."Abby had said, at which Nick had agreed_

 _While they had been distracted looking at the dead bird, they had left clear path for Skye toward the anomaly.  
The vixen had quickly sprinted, and had crossed it.  
Nick had tried to run after her, but Koslov had blocked him.  
"Where do you think you are going?" he had growled._

 _Still, the bear had failed to notice the quick glance Nick had given to Finnick, and the fennec slight nod.  
Then Finnick had run through the anomaly.  
Judy quickly had gone after him.  
_

 _When the bunny had crossed the anomaly, her harmed leg had given in due to the sudden sprint and she had found herself rolling down a grassy hill.  
She had got back to her feet, and had turned to face Finnick, when she had noticed the look of awe on his face.  
Judy had turned around to see what had caused that reaction and, as soon as she had done so, a murmured "Whoa..." had escaped her lips.  
Around them, in a seemingly endless grassy meadow, there had been dozens of anomaly: some had been taller than a giraffe, other as small as a mouse; some had been on the verge of collapsing, while new ones had opened every now and then._

 _"Did you see where she went?" Judy had asked.  
Finnick had shook his head.  
"Then let's head back."_

 _One they had come back, they had told the others what they had seen.  
"Cool! It's like an anomaly Spaghetti Junction!" Connor had exclaimed._

 _"Is this really how you're going to call it?" Abby had said, raising a brow. "Also, is anyone else hearing this noise?"  
Judy hadn't noticed before, but a low sound of static was coming from somewhere in the room.  
It had been coming from the radio-clock, which had previously been broadcasting music._

 _"Interesting..." Nick had said, as he headed for the device.  
He had then proceeded to twist the dial, changing the frequency, and the radio once again had began producing music.  
"There's an interference... it appears to be only on the 87.6 FM frequency. I wonder if it's linked with the anomaly..."_

 _Only then Judy had taken a closer look to the clock, realising it had been 6:00 AM.  
"Sweet cheese and crackers! I'm late for work!"_

 _"I'll drive you there." Koslov had offered, but Judy had refused._

 _"I won't show up at ZPD with a mobster. No offence."_

 _"None taken." Koslov had replied, chuckling._

 _"Give me the keys, I'll do it. It's on the way for the university. I need to gather the tools for the autopsy." Nick had cut in.  
The bear had thrown him the keys of the limo._

 _"Call Big so he can send you another vehicle."Nick had instructed, while living the room with Judy." Someone should stay behind until the anomaly closes. Abby, Finnick, prep the dodo for the examination. See you in an hour or so at Big's place."_

* * *

"At 6 o'clock I've met with professor Nick Wilde, a friend of mine. He had offered to give me a lift to work." JUdy said to Bogo.  
This part was closer to the truth.

"A fox and a bunny? Friends?" The Chief asked, surprised.

"I've met him on the Otterton case. He was in the forest doing some kind of research for his classes." She explained, choosing to ignore the specist remark.

"I see." The buffalo put on his glasses and opened the current case file."Here it says he is one of the witnesses of the facts in Happytown, is it correct?"

"Yes, I'm getting to that." She replied patiently. "As I was saying, he gave me a ride, and on the way here we stopped for breakfast."

* * *

 _The waiter, a lynx, had just left with their orders, when Judy had spoken up._

 _"I'm sorry, but I need to ask this: were you trying to run away with her?"She had asked._

 _"If I was trying to leave the 21st century to be with my crazy ex-wife in the distant past? I-" Nick had suddenly stopped, as for an afterthought.  
"What do you think?" Had been his reply._

 _Judy had thought about it for some time.  
"I- Honestly, I don't know. Part of me wants to believe you wouldn't do it, but there's a little voice in the back of my head... "  
She had sighed.  
_

 _"Hey, don't worry, I get it." He had said, reaching for her paws and holding it in his own.  
"I mined the trust you had in me. Tha the whole team had in me. But I'm going to make up for it. I swear, just give me another chance." He had told her, looking straight into her eyes.  
She had looked back in his, and had seen sincerity.  
_

 _Her lips had curled in a kind smile, and she had leant toward him, and he had done the same.  
Their muzzles were only a few inches away from each other; she could feel his warm breath on her fur. _

_Then the waiter had come back with their breakfast, and the two had quickly sat back, embarrassment clear on their faces.  
Judy had been sure one could see her blushing even through her grey fur.  
When the lynx had left again, Judy had slowly raised her gaze, until she had met Nick's equally awkward one.  
Then they had both burst out laughing, and the breakfast had continued as if nothing had happened._

* * *

"After breakfast, I arrived here. I went to the bullpen, where you assigned me to patrol of the Rainforest District with Wolfard." Judy went on narrating the facts of the morning.  
Bogo had been quietly listening.  
"Nothing of note happened during the morning. We stopped for lunch, then we reprised patrolling. That was when I received the call."

* * *

 _"...And so the lion says:'That's not my tail!'"Wolfard had said, delivering the punchline of his joke, and laughing at it._

 _Judy had shaken her head.  
"I think you should try with another kind of audience, Harry. Kindergartens might be the perfect place where you could look for it." Judy had commented._

 _"Ouch! That was mean." The timber wolf had said, flinching.  
_ _This time, Judy had laughed._

 _"Oh, so you_ do _have sense of humor!" Wolfard had added, with an expression of mock surprise._

 _Judy had been about to deliver another snarky remark, when her phone had rang.  
She had extracted it from one of her belt pocket, and had seen that Nick had been calling her.  
"This isn't over." She had warned Harry, before swiping her finger on the screen of her phone, accepting the call._

 _"Hi Nick, what's up?" She had said._

 _"Hi Carrots. We might have a bit of a situation here."  
Even through the speaker of the phone, she could make out the worry in the fox's voice._

 _"What happened? We've got another..." She had made a brief pause, looking at Wolfard beside her .  
"...one?" She had simply said._

 _"Nope. Look, it's hard to explain on the phone. Can we meet up?"_

 _"What? NOW!? I'm on duty!" She had replied.  
The sudden outburst had gained her a raised eyebrow from Wolfard._

 _"And I'm a concerned citizen who is calling the police force for a possible pandemic!" He had hissed on the other side of the phone._

 _Judy's eyes had widened in fear and surprise.  
"Where are you?"_

 _"Happytown."_

* * *

"Nick had called me because there had been various attacks by what had been described as rabid or savage mammal in Happytown."

"What was he doing there?" Bogo asked, interrupting Judy.

"He was visiting his mother, who lives there." She lied.  
Judy, Nick and the others had all agreed to what version they were supposed tell the ZPD.

"And why weren't these attacks reported sooner to the ZPD?" Bogo questioned.

"I can't be a hundred percent sure, but I'd blame the fact that not many Happytown residents are fond of the police force." Judy replied.  
This wasn't a lie: despite its name, that district was the exact opposite of cheerful.  
Happytown could be described only as a slum: it was composed by rows and rows of crumbling, anonymous, two-stories houses.  
Most of its population was composed of predators or criminals (often both) and was infamous for its high rate crime.  
When Nick had told her his mother lived there, she had felt sorry for her.

Bogo nodded, and gestured with his hoof to resume the story.

"I explained Officer Wolfard that I needed to head to Happytown due to an emergency, and he drove us there, where I met with Nick."

* * *

 _Wolfard had pulled over the cruiser near a pub: from the inside, many had welcomed its arrived with less than pleasant glances.  
"Wait here, I'll let you know if things go south." Judy had instructed the wolf.  
Reluctantly, Harry had nodded as she had got out of the car._

 _Nick had been waiting for her in a nearby alley.  
"It's better not to be seen with cops around here." He had told her on the phone._

 _"I've come as soon as I could. What is going on? You talked about a possible pandemic."  
_

 _Nick had sighed, then had filled her in with the events of the morning.  
After he had left her to the precinct, the fox had gone back to Big's mansion to start the autopsy on the dodo.  
But before they could start, an arm-long worm had crawled its way from outside the bird's beak.  
After a brief attempt to get to Abby, the worm had died.  
"Probably it's some kind of parasite which cannot survive long without a host." Nick had explained to Judy._

 _"But if it's dead, I don't see how it can be a threat." Judy had argued._

 _"Well, apparently, we've missed one of the dodos, which managed to reach the outside, where it was found by two friends of Connor."_

 _"What?! What were they even doing there?" Judy had asked, confused._

 _"They had grown suspicious of Red, and so they decided to follow him to find out what he was up to." Nick had replied.  
"When they saw the dodo exit the stadium, they grabbed it and brought it back home with them here, in Happytown. They were aware of the uniqueness of the bird, and they were planning on selling it or something like that."  
"The problem is, our dead dodo wasn't the only one infected with the parasite. The dodo started to show a violent behavior, and bit Duke, one of the two, before it died."_

 _"It bit him? But they never showed any sign of aggressiveness before." Judy had cut in._

 _Nick had nodded.  
"The parasite is to blame for that. In order to reproduce, it needs to infects other hosts with its eggs. In order to do so, it manipulates its host, making it more prone to attack other animals, so it can pass on the eggs through bites."_

 _"Wait, through bites? So, this Duke has been infected?"_

 _"Unfortunately, yes. When he started to act weird, Duncan, the other idiot, called Connor and told him everything they had done. He and Finnick are right now trying to track him down. He has attacked three mammals, that we are aware of, which are now being treated in one of Mr Big's private clinics."_

 _"What about Koslov and the others? Are they helping them ?"_

 _Nick had shaken his head.  
"Too risky. What if they got infected? We don't want to deal with a pack of polar bears on berserk mode."_

 _Judy had had to admit he had a point.  
"Abby?"_

 _"Is looking after the infected mammals. She is the most competent in biology. I've spent too much time with bones and fossils, and I'm a bit rusty when it comes to still breathing mammals."_

 _"So, what about us?" she had asked._

 _"We could make up some excuse for your wolf partner to help us patrolling the district, looking for our weasel." He had suggested._

 _"I'm not a good liar, Nick." She had replied. "It was already hard enough to write down those fake reports, and those were_ written _. I don't know if I can manage to lie about all of this while talking to someone."_

 _"If things keep getting this messy, I'm afraid you won't have much of a choice, Carrots." Nick had said.  
Right then, his phone had rung._

* * *

Nick's words appeared to be almost prophetic: there she was, lying to the ZPD Chief, her boss, about what had happened hours before.

"When I arrived there, Nick explained he had warned some friends of his to keep one eye out for anything unusual. We received a call from one of them, Connor Temple, which told us where we could find the savage weasel.  
Temple had been able to track down the weasel as he was a friend of his."

Bogo was listening in silence, focused, almost as if he was trying to absorb her words and print them on the inside of his skull.

"We got back into the cruiser, and Wolfard drove us to an old school, no longer in use." Judy felt her eyes become watery and her voice began to waver, as the memories of what had happened once again began to fill her brain.

* * *

 _"Finnick, you found him?" Nick had asked._

 _"Nope. You and Connor had any luck?" The fennec had replied on the other side of the phone._

 _At those words, Judy had given a confused look to Nick, who had furrowed his brow in confusion too.  
"I'm with Carrots right now. I thought Red was with you!"_

 _Judy had heard a series of colorful curses involving Connor's private parts, then Finnick had calmed down.  
"He told me you needed him, and left ten minutes ago."_

 _"Shit. Okay, keep looking around for the weasel_ and _that idiot. Let me know if you find anything." Nick had said, before hanging up.  
He quickly dialed another number._

 _"Connor's friend insisted to gave us his number, in case Duke came back for him or something. Now I'm really glad he did." Nick had explained._

 _"Hello?" Duncan's voice had come from the phone._

 _"No time. I need to know if there is a place only the three of you knew, where Duke could have gone to hide." Nick had said._

 _"Well... there would be this place where... we...you know... smoked..."_

 _"Listen, you getting stoned is the least of our problem! Where is it?"_

 _"The old elementary school." He had quickly answered.  
_ _Nick had unceremoniously ended the call there, and Judy had lead him back to the cruiser._

 _"Hey! He cannot come..." Harry had protested, but Judy had hushed him._

 _"it's an emergency. Trust me. Nick, guide us." Judy had said determined.  
Harry had gulped and quickly nodded, hitting the gas.  
Nick had instructed the wolf on the route to take, and in a matter of minutes they had pulled over in front of the school._

 _"Hopps, if this is about finding me a proper audience..."  
But Harry had stopped as soon as they had heard a gunshot coming from the building.  
It had been too loud to be a tranq gun: the sound had belonged to an_ actual _gun_.

* * *

"I, Wolfard and Nick entered the building. I suggested we split up, so we could reach faster the place of the gunfight. I want to point out that splitting up was my idea, Wolfard merely agreed." Judy said.  
A single tear rolled down her cheek, dampening her fur.  
She knew it was going to be only the first of many.

"Noted." Bogo replied.  
Then he quickly added:" We can take a break, if you need to."

But Judy shook her head.  
"I can do this."

After a sobbing deep breath, she went on with her story.

* * *

 _"You should have stayed out!" Judy had hissed to Nick, who had followed her inside the building._

 _"No way, Carrots."_

 _They had turned the corner of the hallway, and the reply she had been about to say had died in her throat.  
On the floor, in a growing pool of blood, there had been three coyotes: many deep clawmarks and bites covered their bodies.  
One gun had laid there, near one of them, still smoking: he had probably tried to hit their aggressor, but in vain.  
Apparently, getting stoned wasn't the only illegal activity going on in that school.  
Judy had quickly checked if the path was clear, before kneeling down beside one of them.  
She had been able to pick up the pulse._

 _"Officer Hopps, 10-52, I've got three civilians in critical condition. I'm at the Happytown Elementary School." Judy had said in her radio._

 _"Copy that, officer Hopps. I've dispatched medical assistance at your location." Clawhauser had replied._

 _Judy had placed her radio back into her belt, had got up and looked around more carefully.  
This time, she had noticed bloody pawprints wander off the crime scene, inside one of the old classrooms.  
Her ears had perked up, and she had heard a voice: someone was talking and, even if she couldn't make out what was being said, the voice had been slow and articulating the words, like someone who is talking to a child._

 _She had slowly moved toward the source of the voice, Nick right behind her, and had begun to hear some low growls and snarls.  
When Judy had been only a few steps away from the door, she had recognized the voice: it had belonged to Connor._

 _She had flattened against the wall, and had peeked over the doorframe: Connor had been talking to a scrubby-looking weasel, who had been standing on four paws, his back arched.  
The weasel had been giving his back to the entrance, so he couldn't see her.  
"Duke, it's me. I'm Connor, don't you remember?" the Red Panda had said.  
Duke had made an hissing sound._

 _Judy had fully stepped inside the doorframe, surprised she hadn't make a single noise in the process.  
She had slowly risen her tranq gun, aiming at the weasel.  
Connor had seen her, but had kept talking: he was distracting Duke.  
She had moved her thumb to take the safety off.  
The safety made only a small CLICK, but for everyone it had been like if a bomb had exploded._

 _Duke had turned, and for the first time she had seen his face: his pupils had been reduced to slits in his bloodshot eyes and his mouth had been twisted in a savage sneer, fresh blood still dripping from his teeth._

 _She had fired, but the weasel had dodged the dart and had rammed into her.  
Judy had fallen with Duke on top of her: pain had exploded from her leg, and she had let out a scream.  
She had lost her weapon in the fall.  
The weasel was about to sink his teeth in her throat, when a loud BANG echoed in the hallway.  
_

 _Nick had collected the coyote's gun from the ground, and had fired: however, he had aimed to high, and he had missed.  
Duke had got off Judy and had charged Nick: the fox had tried to back off, but slipped on the blood and hit the ground with a pained yelp.  
The savage weasel had jumped on him, piercing his arms and torso with his claws.  
Nick had yelled._

 _The fox had tried to get rid of the weasel, but he had proven to be stronger than he looked, pinning Nick to the ground.  
Duke had tried to bit him on the neck, but Nick had managed to pull one arm free at the last moment, and had pressed it against the weasel's neck, keeping it away from his own throat._

 _At that point, Judy had been back to her feet and had scanned the hallway for her tranq gun.  
_ _It had been a few meters from her: she had picked it up and had aimed for the weasel.  
But when she had pulled the trigger, nothing had happened.  
It had been jammed, probably during the fall._

 _Thankfully, Connor had come in aid of the professor.  
"DUKE, STOP!" the red panda had shouted, grabbing his friend's tail and tugging him away from Nick.  
The weasel had turned around, and it had been clear that he no longer recognized his friend.  
He had slammed Connor against a wall.  
"PLEASE DUKE, STOP THIYYEEEARRGH!" Connor's plea had turned into a scream as the weasel had bit down on his left arm._

 _Judy had been running out of option: she was in no shape to engage the savage weasel in a physical fight.  
Her worried glance had then fallen on a metallic object on the ground, near Nick._

 _The coyote's gun._

 _She had hesitated._  
'He doesn't deserve it. It's not his fault.' _A voice in the back of her head told her.  
Another agonizing yell from Connor ended her inner fight.  
_

 _Judy had lunged for the gun and had rolled back to her feet._

 _Judy had aimed._

 _Judy had pulled the trigger._

* * *

"I killed him. With one single shot aimed to his head." She finished her story.  
Surprisingly, she had managed to hold back the tears.  
"What happened next is a blur."

That was a lie too.  
She remembered how she had calmly pulled a bleeding, crying Connor away from the dead body of his friend.  
How she had quickly come up with a story to cover up what had really happened.  
She felt sick for that.  
 _'What am I becoming?'_ She thought.

"A good cop." Bogo said. "That's what you are becoming."  
She had inadvertently said it out loud.  
"This job requires sacrifices." The buffalo went on. "And not just physical ones. Sometimes, what you have to do to protect others will haunt you, will torment your soul, maybe for the rest of your life."  
"I've been there too. But we cannot let them define us. We must fight our demons, so we can keep this city safe. Zootopia needs good cops like you. I need them." He told her, his expression softening.  
"I'll put you on a temporary leave. You will see our psychologist twice a week. Only when she'll believe you're once again fit for the job, I'll put you right back on the streets." He added, returning to his default stern look.

Judy simply nodded.

"Until then, go home, Hopps. Have some rest."

* * *

Judy left Bogo's office.  
At the end of the staircase which lead to the main lobby, there was Nick waiting for her.  
The fox had replaced his torn-up shirt with a ZPD t-shirt too large for him, which still failed to cover the bandages on his arms.

"You look terrible, Carrots." He greeted her.  
The fox was smiling gently.  
"Let's go home, what do you say?"

Judy simply nodded.  
Nick put one arm around her shoulders and she let him lead the way.  
She barely registered her colleagues waving at her and their words of sympathy, or Nick telling her that Connor was being attended by Abby and that he would make it.  
The half-hour long trip to her home passed in an instant.

Only when Nick had closed the door of her apartment behind them, leaving the whole world outside, the dam holding back her feelings gave up.  
She fell to her knees and began crying.  
"I am a _monster_." She cried out. "I am a _killer._ "

Nick knelt beside her and hugged her.  
"That's not true" He had whispered. "You are the kindest, bravest mammal I've ever known."

"But I-I..." She sobbed, warm tears rolling down her cheeks, leaving darker marks in her fur.

"You saved me and Connor. That's what matter. You got best out of a situation when it wasn't possible to get it right." He told her.

She buried her face into his chest:"Thank you for being here."  
He hold her a little tighter, and curled his tail around her.  
He began rocking her back and forth.  
"Bunnies, so emotional." She heard him whisper, before kissing her on her forehead.

Her weeping slowly came to an halt and, cradled in the warm hug of the fox, Judy drifted asleep .

* * *

 **NEXT TIME:** The Mystic Spring Oasis is under attack, but this time, the danger comes from the sky.  
The team must contain the new menace quickly, before it expands its hunting ground to the whole city.

* * *

 **NOTES:** Hope you've enjoyed the fourth episode of Primetopia.  
this time I messed with the past tenses (Thing I won't do again in a long time), so I apologize for any eventual mistake.  
I also apologize if this came out a bit late, but life happened.  
Finally, I'm not familiar with police codes, so pleaze tell me if 10-52 doesn't mean 'ambulance required'.

Thanks again to all who have supported me and the story so far!

Reviews and advices are, as always, greatly appreciated!

TheNightManager


	5. Episode 5: Flying Terror

**EPISODE 5: FLYING TERROR**

 **MYSTIC SPRING OASIS, 3:00 PM**

Nangi breathed in deeply, then exhaled contently.  
The elephant loved her job as yoga instructor, but she also needed to take a break from time to time.  
That was why they had the 'Hidden Garden': a small, quiet area, surrounded by some small trees and hedges, where the staff members of the Oasis could have some time to relax.

Nangi was meditating, her legs crossed and her eyes closed, when a sudden, sharp sting of pain on her shoulder made her yelp.  
She opened her eyes and looked down at her shoulder: on it, a small wound had opened, bleeding.  
Confused, the elephant looked around for what could have caused it, but she saw nothing.  
She examined the wound again, and this time she noticed it resembled a bite.

She got up, a bit shaken, deciding to head inside for the infirmary, when she felt another jolt of pain from her back.  
She turned around, but again whatever was hurting her was nowhere to be seen.

Panicking, she turned to run, but she tripped and fell.  
She tried to get up, but she was feeling strangely dizzy, and breathing had become more difficult.  
 _'What is happening to me? Why do I feel so sick?'_

Nangi laid there, struggling to even breathe, as she felt the thing that had attacked her sinking its teeth in her flesh over and over again.  
She was still alive when it shifted from biting to tearing apart her flesh to eat her.

* * *

 **ABBY'S APARTMENT,** **4:00 P.M.**

"Are you ready?" Abby asked.

"Yes, I'm coming." Came Connor's reply.

"Hurry up! They're waiting for us." She pressed him.  
She had received a call from Judy 15 minutes ago, informing her that there had been another possible incursion.

Connor emerged from his room, still buttoning up his vest, and gave her an apologetic look, at which Abby responded with one of annoyance.  
She was holding the door open, and Connor was about to exit the apartment, but before he could do that his expression turned in one of deep sadness as a frame on a nearby cabinet drew his attention.

Abby didn't need to see the picture to know what it was: a photo of Connor and his two friends, Duncan and Duke.  
Only three weeks ago, the latter had died before Connor's eyes; Judy had been forced to kill him in order to save Connor and Nick from him, after he had been infected by a parasite which had come through an anomaly.  
The event had hit hard on the doe herself too: Nick had told Abby over the phone he had stayed at Judy's place for the first week after the incident, that had been riddled with sleepless night, during which the bunny would woke up from nightmares screaming, and with sudden outbursts of weeping during the day.  
The last two weeks, however, had been better, and Judy had mostly recovered from the shock, also thanks to the temporary leave her boss had put her onto.  
Thankfully, the team didn't stumble on any other anomaly before that day, giving them the time to heal.

Connor sighed, then looked away from the picture and gave Abby a weak smile.  
"Okay, let's go." He said, and Abby simply nodded, returning the smile, before following him outside.

Parked in front the apartment, a familiar van with a flashy artwork on its side was waiting for them.

* * *

 **MYSTIC SPRING OASIS, 4:30 PM**

"Finally, you're here!" Koslov said as the five smaller mammals walked in.  
The bear was waiting for them near the reception desk, along with a clearly nervous yak.

"It's good to see you too, Koslov." Nick replied.

Koslov ignored him.  
"One member of the Oasis' staff has been killed, and I'm pretty sure this is your field."

"Did you alert the ZPD?" Judy asked.

This time, the yak behind the desk replied.  
"No, Mr. Koslov said he could handle it without cops being involved. I don't need bad advertising."

At those words, Koslov saw the doe's expression change in a weird grimace, as if she couldn't decide if she was relieved or disgusted.  
"Okay then, take us to the body."

"Yax, lead the way." Koslov said, extending one arm to invite him to do so.  
The yak nodded, but as soon as he got out from behind the desk, a few gasps escaped from Judy and Abby, as the two mammals realized he was naked.  
Connor too seemed to be uncomfortable.

"What? You didn't know this was a naturalist club?" Koslov asked, amused, as he followed the yak.  
The team followed Yax in a very large inner courtyard, where half dozen more naked mammals were engaged in various activities, from meditating, to playing volleyball, to swimming in an artificial lake.  
For the duration of the crossing of the garden, Judy covered her eyes with her long ears, Abby shielded hers with her paws and Connor lowered his hat on his, while Nick and Finnick snickered at the display of prudery.

They eventually left the main area and entered in a smaller, more intimate one.  
There, laid the body of an elephant, wholly covered in bite marks and with many chunks of flesh ripped or missing entirely.

"I'll l-leave you now." Yax excused himself, almost running away.

"I'm afraid you were right, Koslov." Nick said, as soon as the yak had left "This has the makings of an incursion."  
He then stepped closer, to examine the wounds on the corpse.

"Abby, Finnick, take a look at this." The fox said, pointing at one particularly well defined bite mark.

"It seems to be strangely swelled." Finnick noted, at which Nick nodded in agreement.

"Are you suggesting the creature has some kind of venom?" Abby asked.

"Well, that would explain how something so small was able to kill an elephant. Judging by the size of these bites, our creature can't be bigger than a chicken."

"Do we have any means to prove your theory?" Judy cut in.

Nick nodded.  
"We have a kit for basic blood exams in the van. It should be enough to verify if she had any venom in her system at the time of her death."

"Okay then: Finnick and Abby, take a sample of blood and analyse it. Nick, Connor and I will try to locate the anomaly and possibly the creature. Koslov, fetch Yax and evacuate this place, but without starting a panic."

"I'll come up with something, sir." Koslov smiled, saluting.  
Judy returned the smile, then Koslov started to leave, when Finnick's voice piped up:"Koslov, I've only one more question for you: how did you get here so quickly?"

"I-uh-I was already here." He admitted, uneasy.

"I don't believe it! The big, bad mobster likes to walk around naked like the day he was born." Finnick barked while bursting out laughing.

Koslov quickly left before things got any more embarrassing.

* * *

"Are we getting closer?" Nick asked him.

"Yes Professor, the magnetic field is getting stronger." Connor replied.  
He was keeping his eyes on his wrist-compass, which needle was spinning faster and faster the more they got closer to the anomaly.  
The compass had led them back into the main courtyard, now empty thanks to Koslov.

The red panda, followed by Judy and Nick, was going up a small hill behind the artificial lake, from which sprouted a small waterfall providing a constant renewal of the water.  
Once on top of it, Connor stopped, frowning.

"Something's wrong?" Judy asked.

Connor took a few steps forward, then returned back in the same spot he had started.  
He did it again going backward, left and right, never once turning his gaze away from his wrist.

"We have no time for line dancing, Red. What is going on?"

"Well, according to this" Connor said, pointing at is compass "the anomaly should be right here!"

Both Judy and Nick looked around.  
"Nope, it's not." The fox replied.

"Wait!" Judy said, her ears perking up. "I can hear it. That hushed whir anomalies make. It comes from..." She trailed off, as she looked up in the sky.  
"Oh, sweet cheese and crackers..." She whispered, as her ears slowly dropped.

Connor and Nick both looked up.  
"Well, this is new." Was Professor Wilde's comment.

Floating above their heads, several meters in the air, there was the anomaly.  
"Umm.. Professor, if the anomaly is up there, how did anything managed to get through it?" Connor asked.

"I assume the creature can fly." Nick sighed.

"Great!" Judy said, throwing her arms up in frustration. "Now we've got an airborne creature!"  
The doe picked up her phone.  
"Koslov. Yeah, it's _even worse_ than we thought..."

In that moment, Nick's phone rang.  
"Hello? Yes Finnick, we found it. Hovering in the sky above the lake. Yes, I said hovering. What about that blood? It's positive? Damn, Carrots won't like it. Okay, listen..."

Connor stopped paying attention to what was being said over the phone and focused back onto the anomaly.  
His neck was beginning to hurt, so he took a few step back so he could look at it at a more comfortable angle.  
But in doing so, he didn't notice he was getting closer and closer to the edge of the hill... until it was too late.  
Suddenly, the red panda felt the ground vanish under his feet, and fell for a few seconds, finally landing with a splash inside the lake beneath, scaring away a few koi carp which had been swimming in it.

He resurfaced immediately, sputtering water and coughing.  
"Connor, are you okay?" He heard Judy's voice calling from above.

"Yeah, I'm just soaking wet." He replied.

"You know, you can be as clumsy as you are brilliant sometimes." Koslov chuckled, who in the meantime had joined Nick and Judy with a rifle.

Connor turned around and began swimming back to the shore, as the water there was too deep for him to walk, the koi now swimming around him, intrigued by the new guest.

"What is _that_ ?!" He heard Nick ask .

"This, Professor, is what we call a weapon." Koslov replied, and Connor could almost imagine the sarcastic smile on the bear's muzzle.

"Okay, first, cut this smartass thing you've got going on here, because that's my part. Second, we agreed not to use lethal force unless absolutely necessary!" The fox said.

"I asked him to bring it." Judy cut in.  
At that, Connor stopped swimming and turned around.

He saw Nick blink in surprise.  
"You _what_?"

"I've seen to many innocents being hurt by these creatures. I'm not taking chances any more." She firmly stated.

"Killing them is also a tremendous risk!" Nick retorted.

"I won't discuss this right now."

"Well, it could be our only chance to do so, if you are so willing to play with the course of time!"

"That's just a theory and... CONNOR WATCH OUT!"

Connor turned around, to see what Judy was pointing at, and he saw it.  
The creature was flying in circles right above him, a wingspan of four meters.  
His two wings were made of a thin layer of membrane, similar to the skin of a drum, stretching from the ankles of his extremely short legs, to the tip of the dramatically lengthened fourth finger of the arms, typical of the pterosaurs, extinct flying reptiles.  
A low, bright-coloured crest rose on its skull, running for almost half the length of it, and from the elongated jaws many needle-like teeth protruded.

It circled above Connor a couple more times, before going into a dive, heading right for him.  
The red panda knew he couldn't outswim the pterosaur, so he instead dove underwater, laying on the bottom of the lake.  
He kept his eyes open and, although his vision was blurred, he could make out the long jaws of the creature break through the surface of the lake, closing around an unfortunate koi, which was impaled by the pterosaur's long teeth.  
Then, as quick as it had appeared, the reptile took off.  
Connor waited as long as his lungs let him, before resurfacing.  
Gasping for air, he looked around, but the creature was gone.

* * *

Nick ran towards Connor, who was now slowly stumbling out of the lake.  
"You okay, Red?"

"Y-yeah, I think so." Connor replied.

"That wouldn't be a question you'd have to ask, if you had let me shot that thing down!" Koslov growled.

Nick looked down at the magazine as big as his arm he was still holding: he had removed it from the bear's gun just before he could open fire on the pterosaur.  
"You didn't need it. That thing wasn't aiming for Connor!" The fox said, unceremoniously throwing the clip back to Koslov.

"I think Professor Wilde is right: Rodan seemed to be interested in the fishes." Connor stated.

"Maybe you just got lucky." Judy countered.

"The bites on the elephant were too small to belong to that pterosaur!" Nick argued.

"The body was a mess, those marks could have been not a hundred percent accurate." Koslov intervened.

Nick sighed and pinched his brow.  
"Okay, listen: Finnick and Abby are on their way back here with a tranquiliser rifle. If I'm right, and that animal is not our killer, we have something else roaming around, so here's what we will do: Finnick and I will try to sedate and capture that thing, while the rest of you will look around and see if can find any clues of a second incursion, okay?"

Judy put her fist against her chin, then she threw up her paw and sighed: "Fine."

Nick felt his usual smug grin spread on his face, but his sense of victory was short lived.  
"But I'll come with you." The bunny added, jabbing her index on the fox's chest.

"What? Why?" Nick protested.

"Because you need someone sane to keep you from being killed." She replied with a smirk.

* * *

Finnick opened the door, and a gush of wind welcomed him.  
He took a few step further and looked around: the rooftop was quiet.  
Following him were Judy and Nick.

Another powerful gust of wind swooped the roof.  
"Shit."Finnick cursed. "This is not going to be easy."

He positioned the barrel of his rifle onto the railing, and steadied himself.  
The fennec fox began to scan the surroundings through the scope.

"Do you see anything?" Nick asked him.

"Nope, not a...Wait! There it is!"  
He had found the pterosaur: it was perched on the roof of a nearby building.

"Can you hit it from this distance?" Judy asked.

Finnick shook his head.  
"The wind is too strong, even if it's still. I need it to get closer."

"Before I saw a crest on its skull: it's red, right?" Nick said.

"Yes, it is." Finnick confirmed.  
Thanks to the scope, he could clearly see the bizarre ornament on the creature's head.

"Okay, I've got an idea. Carrots, you shirt."

"What about it?" Judy asked, confused.

"Take it off." Nick replied.

" _WHAT ?!"_ Judy shouted.

"Nick, we have no time for this kinky crap!" Finnick barked.

"Nononono, wait!" Nick said quickly, rising his paws to protect himself for the slap Judy was about to give him.  
"I need it to lure the creature. It's pink, not red, but it'll have to do. Most paleontologists believe pterosaurs used their crests to attract partners or to recognize their own kind!"

Judy stared at him for several seconds, then sighed.  
"Why didn't I become a carrot farmer." Judy grumbled as she began to unbutton her shirt.  
In a matter of seconds, she was handing it to Nick, only a sports bra covering the top half of her body.  
Nick took it and then reached for a nearby mast, pulling it out of its housing and tying the shirt to it.

"Ta-da!" Nick proudly exclaimed as he showed his makeshift flag.  
Then he let out a long whistle and began to wave the flag: the whole display managed to catch the attention of the pterosaur, which took off from the building and started flying toward them.

Finnick was following it, keeping the pterosaur always at the centre of the scope.

"Fire, now!" Nick shouted him.

"No, it's still too far." He shouted back.

Nick kept waving the flag, as the creature kept closing in more and more.

"Whenever you feel like doing it!" Nick told him nervously.

"Finnick, shoot it!" Judy joined the fox.

"I need to focus, please shut up!" Finnick barked.

The pterosaur was so close Nick and Judy could count all the teeth in its mouth as it squeaked at them.  
With a final flap of its wings, it dove for them.

"FINNICK!" The bunny and the fox screamed with a single voice.  
Only then, he fired, hitting the flying reptile squarely on its thorax with a dart.

The trio ducked as the creature glided above their head, landed badly behind them and passed out from the tranquilizer.  
The three mammals slowly got up.

"This was insane! What the hell were you thinking ?!" Judy shouted, planting herself in front of the two foxes, her back to the creature.  
"I swear, from now on, we'll do as I say, I don't want to hear any-" She abruptly stopped, as the pterosaur hit her in the back of her head with a wings in a twitch.  
The doe dropped to the ground, out cold.

"Thank you, buddy!" Finnick chuckled.

* * *

Judy woke up.  
Her head felt like it was going to explode and everything was pitch black.  
She felt something soft beneath her, a mattress.  
"Where am I? What is going on?"

"Relax, Carrots." Came a voice in the darkness at her left. "We're inside the hotel wing of the Mystic Spring Oasis."  
The sudden noise startled her and she rolled on the right, falling from the bed and hitting what must have been a metal cart with various object on it, judging by the clanging that followed.  
The smell of blood filled her nose.

"Hey, Judy, it's me!" The voice went on.

"Nick! You scared me to death!" She said."Turn on the lights, please, bunnies don't have night vision like foxes!"

"Carrots" Nick voice came closer, and she felt his paws on her arms, helping her back on her feet "what are you talking about? The curtains are wide open, and the sun lights the room just fine."

A cold shiver went down her spine  
"Then why I can't see a thing?" She asked, worried.

"Okay, stay calm. Take a seat." Nick said calmly while helping her sit back on the bed.  
"The doctor said you might have a mild concussion, nothing serious. He mentioned temporary blindness as one of the possible symptoms."

"Concussion..." She brought her paw at the back of her head, where it hurted most. "Something hit me?"

"Yes, the _Zhenyuanopterus,_ don't you remember?"

" _The what now_ ?" Judy asked, confused.

"The pterosaur, that's what it's called. Connor identified it with his "paleopedia"." Nick explained.

"Oh, right. On the roof." Some flashes of memory were starting to return to her.  
"So, was it our killer?"

"Judge by yourself." Nick said cryptically, before putting something in her paw.  
It was thin, pointy and small.

"Why did you give me a toothpick?" Judy asked.

"Try to break it."

Judy did as she was asked, and with little effort, felt the object easily crack in half.  
"What does this proof?"

"That, Carrots, was a tooth of the _Zhenyuanopterus._ Hard to eat an elephant with such fragile teeth, don't you agree?"  
From his tone, Judy could almost hear his grin, without needing to actually see it.  
"Furthermore, while unconscious, the pterosaur... relieved itself. Finnick and Abby examined the dung, and found only remains of fishes and small lizards.  
An finally, no venoums bite."

"Okay, I owe you some apologizes. But if the Zenuya... the pterosaur didn't kill the elephant, what did?"

"We don't know yet. The others are searching the area. They will find whatever did it."

"One last thing: am I bleeding? There's this strong smell of blood in this room..." Judy said.

"Oh, no. When you rolled off the bed, you hit a cart filled with medical supplies, including a blood bag which got ripped in the fall, thus spilling its content on the floor."  
She then heard him walk away from her, and then the sound of hinges creaking: a flow of fresh air entered the room.  
 _'He has opened a window.'_ Judy realized

"This should make the smell less pungent." He explained.

They remained quiet for a few minutes, then Judy spoke again: "I know you disapprove the use of lethal weapon against this creatures, it's just that, after what happened in Happytown..."

Nick sighed.  
"Look, I'm not saying that these animals aren't dangerous and, when it comes down between us and them, I'll always choose our well-being. But at the same time, we have the privilege of seeing wonders no one's ever laid its eyes on and I refuse to believe the only way we can interact with them is killing them."

Judy said nothing, instead reflecting on what Nick had just said.

* * *

On the other side of the Oasis, Abby was walking with Connor, Finnick and Koslov, entering a small grove.  
It was the last place they had yet to search and, so far, they had found nothing.  
A sudden chirp coming from one of the trees caught the otter's attention: she looked up and her gaze was met by what at first look she mistook for a small bird; it was covered in reddish-brow and yellow feathers.  
She then noticed the reptilian snout, filled with sharp teeth, and the claws protruding from its wings.

More chirps joined in the first one, soon turning into a deafening cacophony.  
The other three mammals too turned their heads up, alerted by the commotion: dozens of those animals were sitting on the branches of the trees, but something seemed to have upset them.  
Without further warning, the flock began to move: they jumped from one tree to the next one, opening their feathered forelimbs to glide and cover more distance while in air.

Her vision was suddenly obstructed as Koslov bent over her, Connor and Finnick, shielding them with his body.  
The bear got up only when the last creature flew over them.  
"Everyone's okay?" Koslov asked.

"Yes, thank you." Abby replied.

"Well, I've got a good news and a bad news." Finnick said. "The good one: we found our killers. The bad one: they are flying right toward Nick and Judy."

* * *

Nick picked up his phone.  
"Hello?"

 _"They're coming your way! Barricade yourselves in!"_ Finnick voice shouted on the other end.

Nick dropped the phone and ran at the windows he had opened only a few minutes earlier, locking them.  
"Nick, what is going on?" Judy asked.  
Her sight was getting better, but she could only make out some blurred shapes.

"The creatures are coming here, I must close every access to this place. Stay here, I'll be right back." He said while recovering his phone.  
Before Judy could protest, he had already left the room, closing the door behind him.  
He found himself inside the main hall: the entrance doors were wide open.  
The fox ran for it: in doing so, he saw the flock of creatures outside getting closer.  
He sprinted and launched himself against the door, closing it; he leant against it, catching his breath, when a sudden BANG form the outside against the wood made him flinch.

He took a few step back, as the hits on the door increased in number, but the door didn't give any sign of failure.  
Feeling somewhat safer, Nick dialed Finnick's number.

 _"Nick, are you all right?"_

"Yes Finnick, at least for now."

 _"We'll be there in a matter of minutes and..."_

"No, stay where you are!" Nick interrupted him. "This things are venomous, remember? We are safe inside, if you'd come too close they could attack you too."

There were a few moment of silence, before Finnick spoke up again.  
 _"Fine. Don't worry, we'll figure a way to get you two out safe and sound, just... just hang in there."_

"It'll be fine." Nick said before hanging up.  
Right then, he heard a noise of glass breaking, followed by Judy's scream.  
He headed for the room she was in and opened the door.

Inside, he found Judy on the ground in a pool of blood and some of the creature that had begun to break the glass of the windows in order to get inside.  
He helped the bunny back on her feet and led her in the hall, closing the door to the room.

"What happened? Are you hurt?" Nick asked, checking her for any wounds.

"No, I'm fine. When you left I got up from the bed, but when those creatures began banging on the glass, I backed off and slipped on the blood." She explained.  
"By the way, what are those things?"

" _Sinornithosaurus,_ I think. I should have known sooner: it's the only dinosaur to date which remains suggested a possible venomous bite, even if it was just a theory."

"I would have preferred it had stayed that way." She replied. "Why did they attacked us just now?"

Nick thought for a moment, before biting his lower lip and quietly cursing at himself for his own stupidity.  
"They must have smelt the blood when I've opened the windows."

"Wait, but my shirt is soaked with blood!" Judy realized.

"Yeah... Quick, take it off!" Nick hurried her.

"This is becoming a habitude." She snorted while removing her pink shirt.

"Me asking you to get undressed or us getting attacked?" Nick asked, unable to stop a smile from spreading on his face.

"Unfortunately, both." Judy replied, smiling too.

"Hey, what is going on?" Yax came out from one of the other rooms.  
He parted the locks hanging in front of his eyes to have a better view of who had before him.

"Oh, I see you are embracing our naturalist philosophy!" The yak added upon seeing Judy shirtless.

"WHAT? No, I…" Judy began, but she trailed off as a noise of tapper on glass came from above them.

Nick looked up and realized they were standing under a wide skylight.  
Many Sinornithosaurus were on it, and the glass dome had begun to crack under their blows.  
The fox moved against a wall, tugging the bunny along with him, just before the skylight shattered, pouring a rain of glass right where the two had been standing moments ago.  
Then, the creatures swarmed in.

"What the…" Yax's words turned into screams of agony as the flock of feathered dinosaurs fell on him, biting and clawing at the yak.  
Nick turned away his gaze from the hideous view, rushing inside a nearby lounge with Judy and locking the door behind them.

"We're safe for now." Nick said, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Okay, what's our next move?" Judy asked.

Nick didn't know.  
He saw no way out from that situation: if they stayed in that room, the dinosaurs would eventually find them.

"I'll try to lure them away." He declared, gulping nervously. "I'll make a run for the main door, and then I'll head for the anomaly. Hopefully they'll just fly back in."

"You'll never make it!"Judy argued. "Plaese, don't…"

Nick kissed her.  
He felt her stiffen in his arms, before embracing the act and kissing him back passionately.

"I'll come back. I promise." He said, ending the kiss.  
Then he grabbed the handle of the door, took a deep breath and ran outside.

He sprinted down the hall, careful not to step on the glass.  
He didn't dare to look behind, but he knew the creatures where following him: he could hear their wings flapping, their claw ticking against the tiles of the floor.  
He pushed open the door, and launched himself on the driveway outside the building.  
The dinosaurs were too close, he wouldn't make it to the anomaly.  
With the corner of the eye, the fox noticed a white spot on his left: the ambulance they had called for Judy.

 _'I'm not going down so easily.'_ He thought as he took a sharp turn to the left, skidding on the gravel.  
He felt one Sinornithosaurus brush against his tail.

He recalled all his energy, dashing toward the vehicle, grimacing as he jumped over the medic, a puma, whose body was lying lifeless on the ground.  
He got inside the back of the ambulance, and closed the door.  
 _'Okay, surviving the chase: check. Now let's move to the next phase of the plan: figuring out the next phase of the plan.'_

* * *

Judy stood there, in the middle of the lounge.  
Her sight was improving every passing minute, but it wasn't back to its full capacity yet.

However, at the moment that wasn't her main concern: the first place on her worries podium belonged to Nick.  
After the fox had left, she had heard nothing more than him running out of the door, followed by the creatures.  
It was better than dying screams, but only slightly.

A new noise draw her attention away from her worries about Nick.  
Squinting, she managed to bring into focus where it was coming from: on one side of the room, there was a fireplace, and something was coming down from it.

She put some distance between her and the chimney, readying herself to face the new threat.  
It finally arrived in the form of one small Sinornithosaurus, which to Judy was just a blurred reddish spot.  
The dinosaur scanned the room and quickly spotted her: it hissed menacingly at her, ready to pounce on its prey.  
When it'd attacked her, she wouldn't seen it come, literally.

So she closed her eyes instead, while simultaneously her ears perked up.  
She strained her already naturally superb hearing to register every single noise the creature made: its claws ticking against the floor with every step it took, its feathers brushing against the ground.

Then, it pounced: she used the almost imperceptible whistle it made while cutting trhough the air to pinpoint its exact position.  
With impeccable timing, she performed a roundhouse kick, hitting squarely the creature with her powerful leg.  
The dull thud it made when it bounced off the wall made Judy's lips curl upward in a satisfied smile.

Although that first Sinorithosaurus was dealt with, she heard more of them crawling down the chimney: too many of them.  
Readying herself to fight off the next creatures, she heard a door behind her opening and something entering the room: Judy quickly turned around and threw a punch to the new threat.

"Easy there!" A feminine, amused voice exclaimed, its owner dodging the fist by a whisker.  
Judy recognized that voice.

 _"Skye?"_ The doe said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Can we postpone this conversation?" The vixen asked, while the first Sinornithosaurus rolled out from the fireplace.  
Judy reluctantly nodded and Skye grabbed her paw and dragged her outside the lounge, down a narrow hallway.  
In the distance, dozens of dinosaurs could be heard swarming inside the room the two had just left.

"I am capable of walk on my own, thanks." Judy subtracted her paw form Skye's.

"Okay. Bye then!" The vixen cheerfully replied, before sprinting ahead of her.

"Wait! That's not-" Judy protested, but trailed of as she heard the Sinornithosaurus flock break in the hallway behind her.

"Just kidding!" Skye had come back, and once again held her paw.  
This time, Judy let the vixen led her without complaining.  
Skye took her in the hotel's kitchen, and locked the door behind her.

"The last time I followed you inside a kitchen, it didn't end up well." Judy noted, concerned.

Skye stopped for a moment, as if brooding on what Judy said, before shrugging.  
"I can't say you are wrong."

The grin which came with that statement only increased the bunny's concern.

* * *

Nick had been stuck inside the ambulance for what felt like forever.  
He had found nothing he could use to fight of the Sinornithosaurus, which kept banging on the outside of the vehicle, as if to remind him that he was making them wait for their meal.  
 _'I could always try to shock them to death with that defibrillator, even if it sounds incredibly ironic and impractical to kill something with an AED."_ He was thinking to himself when his phone rang.

"Finnick, it's not a good moment, I'm..."

 _"Stuck inside an ambulance with those hellish pigeons are trying to get in?"_ Finnick concluded.

"...How can you possibly know it?" Nick asked.

 _"I'm standing with the others some meters away from it, and I guessed only you could end up in such an awful situation."_ The fennec replied.

"Har har. And you called just to hear my last words or you have a plan to get me out of this 'awful situation'?"

 _"We do, but in order to enact it you must find a way to not breath for a few minutes."_

Nick didn't even had to look around before answering: he had gone through the whole equipment several times.  
"There's an oxygen tank in here, almost as tall as me."

 _"That should do just fine. Also, keep you eyes closed."_

He quickly opened one of the on the sides of the ambulance and grabbed a mask labelled as 'small canids', and connected it to the pipe coming out from the thank, before wearing it.

 _"You better hurry, it looks like they're about to break in."_

"Okay, Finnick, I'm ready." He said as he turned the valve on the tank ant the oxygen began to flow in his mask.  
Nick heard a loud BANG coming from outside, then a second and a third one.  
Three metallic thuds followed as something hit the ground outside the ambulance.  
After that, came some high-pitched hisses: Nick's view of the outside was clouded by a milky gas which engulfed the ambulance.  
The furious hits from the small dinosaur where replaced by their chocking noises as they inhaled the gas.

Nick figured out the others had thrown some gas grenate.  
In the meantime some of that white cloud also find its way inside the vehicle and, even if Nick promptly closed his eyes, it could feel them began to sting and watering.  
But at least he was out of danger now: he could only hope that Judy was too.

* * *

"Okay, since it's only a matter of time before our feathered friends out there get in here too, I'll have to take care of them myself, without waiting for your pals to join the party." Skye said.

"What do you want me to do?" Judy offered.

"You see that emergency exit over there?" The arctic vixen asked, pointing the bright green door.

Judy nodded: she had almost completely recovered her sight.

"I want you to stand right there, and get out when I say so." Skye explained.

"And what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to cook!" She replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the word.  
Then, before stunned the bunny, the vixen turned on the Kitchen's gas ovens, grabbed a metal jug and placed it inside a microwave.

Judy's eyes widen in panic as she realized was Skye was about to do.  
"This is nuts!" She stated, backing toward the emergency exit.

Skye simply winked, before opening the kitchen's door and hiding behind it as the Sinornithosaurus swarmed in.  
The small dinosaurs entered the kitchen, all heading for Judy.  
"Go, now!" Skye shouted her over the creatures' squeaks and the doe did so without further invitation.  
She opened the door just enough for her to slip through, before closing it behind her and running at full speed from the impending explosion.

* * *

Skye waited as the last of the dinosaurs flew in before turning on the microwave and fleeing back in the hallway they had come in.  
She heard the electric sparkling from the metal jug touching the walls of the microwave, and then the roar of the gas lighting up and burning everything in its path.

* * *

The burning in Nick's eyes had just become bearable, when another of his senses was assaulted.  
His ears began ringing as soon as the explosion erupted from the nearby hotel.

 _'Judy.'_ Was his first thought as he launched himself outside the ambulance, without waiting for Finnick's green light.  
Flames burst from the windows of the building, its facade already charred; the glass scattered in front of it from the shattered windows and the tremendous heat made it impossible to get too close.

"No..." He muttered, his hears flat against the back of his skull and his tail dropping on the ground.  
Finnick, Abby, Connor and Koslov reached him, but none of them said a thing.

Moments later, however, a small figure emerged from behind the corner of the burning building.  
"Hey, why the long faces?" Judy asked: she looked dishevelled, but unharmed.

Nick's felt a surge of joy and happiness jolt his whole body: he ran toward the bunny and hugged her.  
"Don't ever do it again, okay?" He whispered.

"Well, I'm not entirely to blame for this." Judy said, parting from the hug.

"What do you mean?" Nick frowned.

"Skye was there. She saved me." Judy explained.

"And where is she now?"

"Vanished. Like a ghost." Judy replied, confirming what Nick already suspected.

"Typical." He sighed.  
Right then, the rest of the team joined them.

"Hey, what the hell happened in there?" Koslov asked.

"Well..." Judy began, but she stopped and looked briefly in Nick's eyes.  
"I tried to bake."She went on "Turns out, I'm not good at it."  
Everyone glanced at her, surprised, before bursting out laughing, the tension melting off like ice on a summer day.  
When he was sure no one would notice, Nick gave Judy a thankful smile.

"So, we have a pterosaur to send home before the firefighters arrive." He then said out loud, addressing the whole team.  
After recovering a shirt for Judy and a pair of red, rhino-sized pants from the lost and found, the team headed back to the anomaly site: there, the unconscious Zhenyuanopterus laid on the ground, but it was showing the first signs of recovery.

"Come on, lift me!" Nick said to Koslov, grinning and making a grabbing motion similar to a child who wants his father to hold him.  
Koslov scoffed and rolled his eyes, but did as the fox asked, placing him over his shoulder and holding him by his legs.

"Professor, it's waking up!" Abby warned him as she took a few steps back from the pterosaur.  
Indeed, the flying reptile blinked a few time and slowly used its folded wings to get up.  
It then shook its head a couple of time, as to clear his mind before taking off... in the wrong direction.

"Hey, come back here, you dummy!" Connor shouted while waving his arms to try to get its attention.  
Finnick, Abby and Judy joined him and Nick began waving the flag he had make out from the red pants.  
The commotion managed to catch the attention of the Zhenyuanopterus, which came about and began flying back toward them.

Nick confidently kept waving his flag, as the majestic creature flew over the team, leaving them breathless, and vanished into the anomaly, which then flickered and closed, everyone cheering.  
Koslov then put the fox back on the ground and walked away as he called Mr. Big for the clean up.

"You were right." Judy reached Nick's side. She was smiling. "We do get to see wonderful things, from time to time."

* * *

 **NEXT TIME:** When Skye returns claiming a creature is behind a some recent spate of disappearances, the team has to face their deadliest foes ever.  
But this time, the threat comes from the future.

* * *

Well, here we go, a new episode is over, I hope you enjoyed it.  
I wanted to introduce a proper dinosaur sooner than the actual show did (In season two with the raptors): I considered many " flying" dinosaurs, such as the Microrpator or the Archaeopteryx, but they didn't feel threatening enough, so I settle for the Sinornithosaurus, which some paleontologist claim could have been venomous.  
Some of its fossils were so well preserved it was possible to determine the colours of its feathers, so I included that too in the story.  
But of course, I had to swap the Pteranodon too, as the two species didn't lived in the same place and, after some digging, I chose the Zhenyuanopterus, just because was big enough and was found in the same formation as the Sinornithosaurus.

Finally, I went through the previous chapters, and I'm ashamed of the multitude of errors I had made, so I apologize for that.  
IIve corrected them now, there should be no more mistakes, and from now on I'll double check the chapters before publishing them, but I was wondering if anyone was willing to beta-read them, as I am not an English mother tongue.

Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter with a review!  
Till next time!

TheNightManager.


	6. Episode 6: One-way Trip

**ONE-WAY TRIP**

 **NICK'S OFFICE, ZOOTOPIA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, 10:00 AM**

Nick was sitting at his desk, engaged in an arduous task: he was throwing sharpened pencils against the ceiling of his office, trying to stick them in it.  
He used to do that when he was pondering on something, or simply bored.  
As the last pencil he had thrown, like all the previous one, plunged into the ceiling and didn't come back, Nick reached out for his next dart.

"Being a professor sure looks difficult." A voice came from the office door.  
Judy was leaning against the frame, smiling at him.

"Says the cop who is never on service." Nick replied sardonically.

"I just come off nights." She explained, a bit defensive.

"Then you should be in your bed." Nick stated.  
"Do you still have trouble sleeping?" He asked concerned.

"I was wondering" She said, taking a seat and completely ignoring his question "if we should still consider Skye as our enemy. After all, she saved my life."

Nick sighed, deciding to drop the argument about Judy's health, instead choosing to continue the conversation she had started to change the subject.  
"I don't know: I've honestly give up trying to figure out what's going on in her head since learning she left ten years ago to go and play Boar Grylls in the Permian." He admitted, shrugging.

"Can I ask you something personal?" Judy said shyly.  
Nick nodded, so she went on: "Do you think she ran away also because of… issues, in your relationship."

"No, why would you think that?" Nick honestly replied.

"Well, 'not let the others see that they get to you' and all that nonsense. You should be more open about your emotion."

"Carrots, only because you had a few sessions with a shrink, it doesn't automatically turns you into one of them." He replied, smirking.  
"But, if you think this is good for me, ask away. I'll be completely honest!" He said, putting his right paw over his heart and rising his left one.

"Do you still love her?" Judy said bluntly.

Nick smile fell, and this time it was him who promptly changed the subject.  
"Why did you really come for? I doubt it was just to discuss my personal love life."

"Yes, in fact, I wanted to discuss our approach to the anomalies: up to now, we waited for an attack to happen before responding to the threat. This can't go on. We must find a way to predict the anomaly _before_ they even open."

"I don't know about predicting, but I have a theory about locating them the exact moment they appear.  
I'll talk to Connor about this, the next time I see him." Nick explained.

"That's great!" Judy replied smiling, seemingly genuinely relieved by the news.  
Then, she stretched and a yawn escaped from her.  
"Well, I think I'll go for that sleep you suggested earlier." She got up from the chair and headed for the door, while Nick returned his attention to the ceiling, readying himself to throw the next pencil.

Judy then abruptly stopped in the doorway and turned around.  
"By the way, I'm pretty sure you kissed me at the Mystic Spring."

Nick flinched at the mention of the kiss, misthrowing the pencil which fell back on his head.  
"W-Well, I…" The fox awkwardly stammered, whike massaging his head where the pencil had hit him.

"Be warned: harassing a police officer is a great criminal offence. I'd hate to arrest you." The bunny jokingly told him as she left his office.

 _'Sly bunny.'_ Nick thought, smiling to himself.

* * *

 **ABBY'S APARTMENT, 11:30 AM**

"I give up." Abby said throwing up her arms.  
She had been helping Connor improve his success with females all the morning, pretending to be the 'girl in the bar' while he practiced his pick-up lines and small chats, but the result were… less than promising.

"What did I say?" Connor asked.

" _Who would win in a fight between Wonder Wombat and Supermammal!?_ Connor, girls usually don't share your interest in comics. You'll have to compromise in talking about other topics." She explained.

"Fine, let me try one more…" The red panda trailed off, his attention captured by something behind Abby.  
She turned around, following Connor's gaze to the television; a ZNN service was being broadcast, and it was showing a picture of a weasel she was familiar with: Duke, Connor's deceased friend.

"Turn on the volume!" Connor waved his paw at her in a hurrying gesture.  
She grabbed the remote and did so.

"…and although the ZPD claims that the Happytown accident was an isolated event, tension is growing, with more and more citizens pointing the fingers against predators as culprits for the recent spate of disappearances. The assistant mayor Bellwether, on behalf of mayor Lionheart, has invited to remain calm and-"  
Abby turned off the TV and looked back at Connor, concerned.

"It's not fair." The red panda murmured clenching his fists. "He doesn't deserve this."

"I know. I'm sorry…" She was interrupted by her ringtone went off.  
She looked who was calling her: the name displayed on the screen was 'Tim Porker', her boss.

"Hi, Tim, what's up?" She asked.

 _"We have a big problem. One of our alligator is missing."_ The pig explained on the other side.

"What?! How did it happen?" She was utterly stunned by the news.

 _"We aren't sure. Could you come over here?"_

"Sure, I'll be there as soon as I can." She hung up.  
"We're leaving." She announced.

"Off to…?" Connor asked, confused by the sudden change in her behavior.

"The reptile house. A gator is missing." She explained as she got up, heading to the door.

"And you need me because…"

"Come on. This is clearly the work of a creature. Who would steal a four-meter long reptile?"

"Okay, I'll come take a look." Connor sighed, not even trying to hide his doubts about Abby's theory, and the two left the apartment.

* * *

 **ZMU CAFETERIA, 12:00 AM**

Finnick was quietly consuming his lonely meal: Nick had told him he would reach him for lunch, but once again he had probably failed to notice it was lunch time, too focused on his work.  
As he finished the last bite of his bugburger, a chilling sensation made the fur on the back of his neck stand on end: he felt like he was being watched.  
The fennec fox turned around, carefully scanning the room, but he only saw students and professors, all minding their business.

 _' I'm becoming paranoid.'_ He shrugged and shook his head, but when he turned his head back, he found his snout inches away from someone else's.

"In most eras, you would be dead by now." Skye told him, smirking.  
The arctic vixen was sitting in front of him, wearing her usual worn out khaki shirt and trousers.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed, nervously looking around.

"I'm happy to see you too." She grabbed Finnick's beer and sipped it.  
She then removed her backpack from her shoulders and pulled out a newspaper from it, extending him to him.

Finnick took the paper and read the headline: THREE MAMMALS MISSING, STILL NO SUSPECTS.  
"What, you did it?" He asked, unimpressed.

"And I thought Nick was supposed to be the funny one." She giggled.  
"But no. It was a creature."

"Are you sure?" Finnick's attention now focused on Skye.

She nodded.  
"I want you to set up a meeting with Nick and the bunny here, tomorrow at noon." She went on, passing him a note with some coordinates scribbled on.  
"But no mobsters this time." She clarified, raising her index.

"You want to help?" Finnick eyed the vixen skeptically. "Why?"

Skye feigned an hurt and indignant face, blatantly putting a paw on her chest.  
"But because I'm concerned about the well-being of the community, of course."  
Then she dropped the act, and leant toward him.  
"Don't wrack your brain on this." She whispered in his ear, in a way that sent a pleasant chill down his spine. "You've always been a more physical guy. That's what I like about you."  
She moved again, this time levelling her mouth with Finnick's, and kissing him.

Skye parted from him and got up.  
"I missed this." She smirked, before leaving wagging her tail.  
When Finnick recovered from the stun, the vixen was nowhere to be found.

* * *

 **ZOOTOPIA REPTILE HOUSE, RAINFOREST DISTRICT 12:30**

The pig lead them through the dim corridors: as Connor passed through, he couldn't help but feeling the cold stares of the many snakes, amphibians and lizards on him, watching from behind the plexiglas of their displays.  
Avoiding eye contact with the cold blooded creatures, the red panda kept following Tim Porker and Abby, until they arrived to the largest enclosure yet: a sign read "Gator's Pit", a suitable name for the sight.

Beyond the wide acrylic window, a hollow deep half a dozen meters opened; at its bottom, a shallow artificial river flew.  
But there was no sign of the titular animals.  
"Do you plan to have gators, in your gator enclosure?" Connor giggled.  
Both Tim and Abby glared at him.

"We moved them temporarily so we could access the pit." Tim snorted. "Come."  
He opened a door, hidden behind a corner, which lead to a narrow staircase, which brought them right to the bottom of the pit.

"Everything looks in order." Abby stated, after a quick look around. "From where the alligator was taken away?"

Tim simply pointed upwards with a fingers: Connor and Abby raised their head, now noticing that a wide hole had been made in the metallic net covering the enclosure.  
 _'Okay, this is weird.'_ Connor admitted to himself.

"I must go now. When you are done, lock the door behind you." The pig recommended as he left.

"So, are you convinced we are dealing with a creature now?" Abby asked, clearly satisfied.

"Not quite yet…" He replied, as he saw a reddish substance on the floor: blood.  
"…but maybe this can help us figuring out what is going on. It's time to collect a few debts from the guys over at the biology department."

* * *

 **ZPD HQ, 8:00 AM**

Judy entered in the locker room, and dropped herself onto the nearest bench.  
Another night shift had just ended and she was exhausted; she began undressing, removing her bulletproof vest, when she heard a noise coming from behind a row of lockers.

"Who's there?" She asked out loud. "Fangmayer, is that you?"  
When she received no answers, she pulled out her tranq gun from the holster and slowly approached.  
She flattened herself against the side of the locker, then turned the corner, her weapon aimed in front of her.  
Then Judy began shaking when she saw the source of the noise.

A weasel with torn short was standing on all four, his back arched, teeth bared, pupils reduced to slits.  
Duke growled at her.  
"This can't be!" She managed to utter, before the weasel charged at her.

She aimed her gun at him and pulled the trigger, but the weapon only clicked, without firing.  
She tried once more, twice, trice, bug the result was always the same, and the savage weasel was growing closer.

Panicking, she turned to run, but she bumped into someone.  
She recognized the green pawaiian shirt: it was Nick, his back to her.  
"Nick, what are you doing here? We must leave now, there's-" She was interrupted by low growl, but it didn't come from Duke: it was the fox standing in front of her.

Nick abruptly turned around and pinned her against a locker.  
"URGH! Nick, what the… hell…" Judy felt her voice die out in her throat as her eyes met his.  
Nick's pupils were minuscule black dots an sea of emerald, every trace of sanity and reason gone from the fox's eyes.

"No, not you too." Judy said, on the verge of crying.  
Nick simply snarled, baring his sharp teeth, and bit down on her neck as Judy screamed in pain.

"HOPPS, WAKE UP!"  
Judy opened her eyes and looked around: she was still sitting on the bench, her vest laying on the ground before her.  
Next to her, Francine was gently shaking her with her trunk.

"What…I…." The bunny muttered, confused.

"I found you asleep when I arrived." The elephant explained.  
"You began screaming and squirming, so I woke you up."

"Oh… I see." Judy replied, embarrassed.

"You want to talk about it?"

"No, thanks. I'll… just go home and get some real sleep."  
But even then, Judy already knew that waiting in her bed were only more nightmares.

Fortunately, her phone rang, distracting her from those thoughts.  
She had received a message from Finnick, asking the team to meet up.

'That can't be good.' She thought as she resumed undressing. 'But at least it can't be worse than those dreams.'

* * *

 **Mr. BIG'S MANSION, 9:30 AM**

"That's the worst idea I've ever heard." Koslov roared, obviously upset. " You won't meet that deranged vixen on your own!"

The polar bear was glaring at Finnick so intensely that it almost seemed he was trying to set the short fox on fire with his mind.

"I'm not saying we should do that, I'm only delivering the message." Finnick explained.

"Well, then I say screw her: last time we trusted her, Skye has unleashed a potential epidemic against us!" Koslov growled.

"We can't be sure she has done that on purpose." Nick contered.

"That's not the point, Nicky. We cannot trust her, whether you lie it or not." Mr. Big intervened.

"I'm not saying we should blindly believe to everything she says, but…" Nick began, before being interrupted by he mob boss.

"Enough. That meeting is not happening."  
Koslov grinned satisfied at those words.

"I think we should go." Judy abruptly piped up.

"You do?" Nick and Koslov asked simultaneously, the grin fading from the latter's face.

Judy nodded.  
"Back at the Mystic Spring, she saved my life."

"She was there too? When were you going to tell us about that?" Koslov asked outraged.

"That's not the point. She proved me she can help us, so I say we give her the benefit of the doubt." She concluded.

"You are not considering this, are you? This is-" The bear said addressing Mr. Big, but the shrew lifted one paw to shut him.

"Are you sure about this, Hopps?" The mob boss asked.

Judy took a deep breath, the replied with a determined "Yes."

"Okay, then you can go. But Koslov comes with you."  
That solution left both sides satisfied.  
As the team headed outside, Abby's phone rang.

"Sorry, I have to take this. Hi Tim. Yes, I can. I'll be there as soon as I can, see you later."  
Abby hang up.  
"It was the reptile house. We have a missing gator and my boss think I can do something about it, apparently. Looks like I'm going to miss another akward reunion." She said with mock disappoint.

"About that, I have the results on that blood sample I've sent to the biology department: your mammal is a bat. Kind of." Connor told Abby.

"What does it means 'kind of'? ZMU as hit rock bottom if they can't even determine a mammal species from its blood." Nick commented, sighing.

"They told me the DNA was like nothing they had ever seen before. 'Messed up', were my friend's words for it. But it mostly matched with the chiroptera genus, aka bats." The red panda explained.

"Okay, thanks for the help Connor. And good luck to everybody for the meeting!" The otter said, as she parted from the rest of the group, who was getting in one of Big's limo.

* * *

 **ZOOTOPIA REPTILE HOUSE, 10:00 AM**

Tim Porker put his phone back in the pocket of his trousers.  
He rubbed his eyes, sighing in frustration: in all the years the reptile house had existed, nothing like this had ever happened before.

 _'Why would someone steal a freaking gator!?'_ He was think, when a noise caught his attention.  
He walked toward the source of the sound, and quickly found it: someone had left an emergency exit door open, and now the wind was causing it to slam repeatedly against the frame.  
He walked toward it in order to close it, but when he was a few steps away from it, the pig noticed the lock had been torn apart, big claw marks dug into the metal.  
His annoyed look turned into a concerned one.  
He slowly opened the door and warily walked outside, where a sea of green welcomed him.

The reptile house stood in the heart of the Rainforest District, in the natural park known as the 'Forest of Dean'.  
The pig looked around, but the place looked deserted; and yet, he had the feeling that someone… no, _something_ was observing him.

"Who's there?" Tim asked, with the firmest voice he managed.  
But no answer came.  
He took a few more wary steps toward the forest, when a loud thud came from behind him, as if something had fallen from above.  
He turned to see what had caused the noise, but before his brain had the time to register and process what his eyes were seeing, the swine received a powerful hit on his neck, which snapped with a disgusting CRACK.

Tim Porker was dead before his body hit the ground.

* * *

 **'THE FOREST OF DEAN', RAINFOREST DISTRICT 10:45 AM**

"There you are!" Skye smiled slyly upon seeing the team arrive at the meeting.  
The vixen leant against the handrail of a bridge crossing over a small river.

Nick noticed how she was the only one smiling.  
"Yes, here we are." Nick confirmed.  
"Finn said you wanted to help us, is that right?" The fox asked, raising a brow skeptically.

"It's nice to see you too." Skye replied.  
"Yes, I'm here because there has been an incursion: we are probably dealing with the deadliest creature evolution ever produced."

A nervous silence fell upon the group.  
"And that would be…?" Finnick asked.

"It's species has no name." Skye answered cryptically.

"Okay, then from what era is it from?" Was Nick's question.

"It's not from the past." Skye replied.

"What does it means?" Judy asked confused.

Skye looked at Nick, and smiled wily.  
"You knew this moment would have come since you first learnt about the anomalies." She hinted.

Nick's eyes widened in shock.  
"It can't be… it's from the _future?!_ "

Skye nodded, and the shocked expression on Nick's face was shared by the whole team.  
"How-How can you be sure it's not simply a species whose fossils are yet to be found?" Connor intervened.

"I've spent ten years travelling across the past, so you can trust me when I say that isn't like anything that has ever walked on this planet before." She explained.  
"It's extremely intelligent, agile and arboreal creature. It's a deadly stalker which ambushes its prey. They also produce an high-pitched sound, probably ultrasound, since other animals seemed to fail to hear them; it could be a form of communication."

"It's not." Connor cut in.  
Everyone turned toward the red panda.  
Connor cleared his throat before going on.  
"I think it's echolocation."

"Echo… what?" Koslov asked, confused.

"It's like a biological sonar." Nick explained to the bear.  
"Some animals can produce high-frequency sounds: when these sounds meet an obstacle, they are reflected back in the form of echoes. Listening to the echoes, it's possible for these animals to locate and identify objects even in complete darkness."

"But how can you be so sure it's echolocation?" Skye asked intrigued.

"Well, that would explain the weird blood drops I and Abby have found. It was similar to bats', which are one of the few mammals who can use echolocation, but slightly different from anything they had ever seen at the lab: if this creature is really from the future, maybe it's an evolution of bats." Connor said.

"Okay, now let's put a stop to our fantasy and focus on what we know for sure. Where is the anomaly it came from?" Judy asked Skye.

"I don't know." Skye admitted.  
"I first came across the Predator in the Permian while it was feeding: it must have crossed an anomaly which led from the future to the Permian before eventually moving to the present through the anomaly located here, in the Forest of Dean."

"It has reopened!?" Nick asked, dread starting to crawl inside his brain: nothing good had ever happened when that anomaly appeared.  
He slightly shook his head, trying to repress the irrational feeling.

"I'm still not really convinced about this whole 'Future Predator' thing, but the fact remains that we have a dangerous creature on the loose." Judy stated.  
"Any suggestion about where should we start looking for it?"

"Well, we found the blood at the reptile house, not too far away from here." Connor suggested.

"But that's exactly were Abby is right now!" Finnick realized.

"Let's move then!" Judy urged as she sprinted back to their vehicle.

The team hopped inside the limo, Nick sat in the back beside Skye.  
In the commotion, no one was paying attention to them.  
"What did you omit from your story?" He whispered, making sure no one coukd hear him.

"I don't know what you are talking about." She replied, whispering as well.

Nick grabbed her arm.  
"I'm tired to play your games." Nick hissed angrily."I can tell when you are lying, so let me ask you again: what. Didn't. You. Tell. Us. Before?"

Skye gulped nervously, but never looked away.  
"Back in the Permian, when I came across the Predator, I got careless and I went to close and revealed my presence to it. I ran through the anomaly and the creature followed me in the present." She confessed.

Nick let her arm go, almost disgusted.  
"You are the reason if that thing is here?" The fox asked uncredulous.

Skye nodded: in her eyes, Nick saw no trace of guilty, nor regret.  
"Don't look at me like that. I've done what I had to do to survive."

"You have the blood of those people on your paws." Nick spat, his words full of indignation.

"I stayed for help you, instead of going back. That's worth nothing for you?" She camly replied.

"You better hope nothing bad happens to Abby or anyone else of this team." He growled, ending the conversation.

* * *

 **ZOOTOPIA REPTILE HOUSE, 11 AM**

"Tim, where are you?" Abby called out, but she got no answer.  
The otter had been looking for her boss up and down, but couldn't find him.  
She sighed, a bit annoyed.

 _'I rush here and he doesn't even show up!'_ She complained in her head.  
She stopped in front of the display of some small frogs, the Coqui.  
She looked at the amphibians: the species was know because of its reputation of being one of the loudest frog on the planet.  
As if to prove that, they frogs suddenly began croaking, producing a deafening noise.  
Abby covered her ears to protect them from the loud cacophony and turned to leave, but what saw froze her on the spot.

Before her, stood an animal like she had never seen before: it was large and lean with a grey skin and a huge, elongated head.  
It walked an all four, its front limbs longer than the hind ones; sharp teeth sprouted from its drooling mouth.

Abby readied herself for the attack, but the creature never did: instead, it sniffed the air, apparently unable to detect her.  
She noticed how there were no visible eyes on its head, so she assumed it had to be blindy.

"Don't make a sound." Finnick's hushed voice said from behind her, Abby barely able to hear it due to the Coqui's croaking.  
She felt him taking her paw and gently tugging her toward him: she let him guide her, not looking away from the creature in front of her for even a second.

The two mammals flattened themselves against the wall, and slowly began to back away from the Predator.  
In that very moment, the croaking ceased, and the creature tilted its head in their direction.  
The Future Predator's muscles tensed, the creature ready to pounce on them, when Koslov and the others reached them, prompting the creature to escape with an exceptional burst of speed, nimbly jumping on the walls and ceiling of the hallway.

"Are you two okay?" Judy asked, rushing by their side.

Abby, who only then realized she had been holding her breath, exhaled deeply.  
"Yeah, I think so. What the hell was that thing?"

"Bill's progeny, apparently." Connor replied.  
She gave him a puzzled look.  
"Bill is a friend of mine, a bat. I don't think I'll ever be able to look at him without shivering."

"What the hell are you babbling about?" Abby asked confused.

"Don't listen to him." Nick cut in. "We'll explain on the way out. Koslov, call Big and tell him we are going to need backup."

* * *

 **FOREST OF DEAN, FIRST ANOMALY SITE, 11:30 AM**

Judy stared at the glowing light before her, the glass-like shards slowly spinning around it.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"  
Judy turned her head around, and saw Skye approaching.

"But also dangerous." Judy sated, returning her attention to the anomaly.

The arctic vixen chuckled.  
"The two things often come together."

"Can't say you are wrong." Judy agreed.  
The bunny sighed then faced Skye.

"I never had the chance to thank you for saving me." She said.

"Your welcome." Skye replied, gloating at the admission.

"Sure, you took your sweet time, but you rescued me nonetheless."

"I believed my intervention to be necessary only when Nick left you alone."

"He was trying to save my life as well!" Judy defended him, probably with more vehemence she had intended.

Skye turned her head in Nick's direction, who was filling Abby in.  
"He is attracted to you." The vixen noted bluntly.

"That's-pfft- that's ridiculous." The bunny stammered blushing.

"And you reciprocate the feeling, don't you?" Skye went on.

Judy clenched her fists and calmed herself down.  
"Even if that was the case, it's none of your business."

"He's my husband. I'd say it is my business" The vixen said, giving Judy an 'are you for real?' look.

"We both know you lost the right to call him that when you left him ten years ago." Judy replied harshly.

"You are Nick's kind of mammal: strong, independent and intelligent." Skye said, apparently unfazed by Judy's words.  
"No wonders he likes you: we are more alike than you care to admit. Except you are a cute little bunny." She added teasingly.

Judy decided to ignore that last comment, instead walking up to the others, as she saw another limo approaching, Kevin and Raymond in it.  
The vixen followed her.  
"…and the croaking must have interfered with its sonar, that's why it didn't attack." Judy caught the last bit of Nick's explanation.

"So I own my life to the frogs?" Abby groaned in dismay.

"Well, once I managed to escape a Suchomimus only because it tripped." Skye cut in, fondly smiling at the memory.  
"Thank goodness for that log."

Judy didn't miss the hateful look Nick gave Skye, but decided not to ask about it, for now.  
"So, what do we do now?" She asked instead.

"We look for the creature's lair." Finnick answered.

"How can you be so sure it has one?" Koslov asked, while the two other polar bears joined them.

"Simple: they killed four people and an alligator, but we found no bodies, so it's probably harvesting food somewhere, which means it must have some kind of safe place, a lair." Finnick explained.

"That's a good starting point. Abby, you know this area, any idea where the Predator could be hinding?" Judy asked.

Abby thought for a couple seconds, before she apparently found the information she was looking for in the back of her mind.  
"There are some old storage huts, not too far from here!"

"Okay, we'll start looking there." Nick nodded.

"What do we do when we find it?" Kevin asked Nick.

"We kill it." The fox replied flatly.

 _"What?!"_ Judy and Koslov exclaimed at once.  
"What happened to the 'no-killing' policy?" Judy added.

"This creature is too dangerous to be kept alive. And, moreover, it's death won't affect neither the past nor the present, as it comes from the future." Nick explained.

"Finally!" Koslov said, grinning.  
He then proceeded to paw over to Nick, Finnick and Judy a gun each: the doe reluctantly accepted the weapon, memories from Happytown briefly flashing before her eyes.

"Yes, let's go hunting!" Connor said overexcited.  
But Nick quickly killed off his enthusiasm.

"You are staying here." The fox told him.

"What?! Why?" The red panda almost whined.

"I need you to turn on the radios on the cars and set them on the 87.6 FM frequency and monitor them. If there is an interference, like back at the Zootennial Stadiun, and in case it ceases if he anomaly closes…"

"We'd know that is the anomaly causing it, and we could build a device to track them as they open!" Connor completed Nick's sentence.

Nick nodded and grinned.  
"I knew you'd have understood, Red." Nick said, patting him on the shoulder.  
"Abby, Finn, you are staying with him, just in case."

Abby seemed relieved by that, while the fennec looked utterly displeased with his assignment, but didn't complain.

"Let's not waste any more time." Judy hurried the team, and they left in the direction of the huts Abby had mentioned.

* * *

 **FOREST OF DEAN, 12:15 AM**

Koslov came to an halt as they reached the old building: it was clearly abandoned, most of its metallic walls covered by rust.

"Wilde, Hopps, behind me." The bear barked.  
"No arguing." He quickly added as he notice the bunny was about to retort.

"Kevin, don't lose sight of the vixen." He ordered to the other bear.

"The vixen has a name." Skye complained. "And thank you for the trust."

The bear turned around, and lowered his head at Skye's eye level.  
"I do not trust you, I want that to be clear." He growled menacingly. "You should consider yourself lucky you're not waiting cuffed inside the trunk of a car."

Koslov then once again face the door of the hut, and with a nod of his head, gave instruction to Raymond to break down the door, while he pointed his shotgun at it.  
The door gave in after one single kick, revealing a broad space, completely invaded by vegetation.  
Koslov gestured with his hand to move inside, and they slowly advanced.

Some empty crates were scattered around, but beside that, the place was empty.  
Koslov scanned the room twice, before declerarin: "All clear!" and lowering his weapon.  
"Let's head over to the next hut."

They were about to leave, when Nick raised his paw in an 'halt' motion, then he brought his index to his mouth, asking everyone to be quite, as the fox's ears perked up.  
"Do you hear that?" He asked, but only Skye nodded.

 _'Ultrasound'_ Koslov realized.  
Nick slowly approached one of the crates, a little shorter than him, and removed its top.  
When he did, the content of the box began screeching in a way audible for all those present.  
The polar bear got closer, and saw the source of that cry: several creature like the one they had seen before, but much smaller, were inside the crate, along with the dismembered bodies of the missing mammals.

"Cubs. That's why it was harvesting food." Skye noted.

"Yeah, and I bet mommy isn't too far either." Nick said.

* * *

 **FOREST OF DEAN, FIRST ANOMALY SITE, 12:00 AM**

"Damn it!" Connor exclaimed irritated.  
He glowered at his phone, the display of which informed him that he had once again failed to complete level 144 of 'Candy Claws Saga', and that he had ran out of lives.  
The task assigned him by professor Wilde had turned out to be more boring than anticipated: the initial excitement when he had first found the interference predicted by the fox had slowly dwindled, until it completely disappeared.

Finnick and Abby had to be at least as bored as he was, judging by how they were looking outside the windows of the car.  
The three mammals were sitting in the backseats of the limo, statics from the radio as only thing breaking the silence.  
Connor closed the app and was deciding what game open next, when the fennec fox beside him began fidgeting in his seat, his ears perked up.  
"Connor, shut the radio!" He hissed between his teeth.

"What? Why?" Connor asked, confused by the sudden change in the fox's behavior.

"Do it! Now!" Finnick urged him, so Connor jumped on the driver seat and pushed a button on the dashboard, turning off the static noise.  
Connor opened his mouth to demand an explanation, but Finnick gestured him to stay quiet.  
The red panda gave the fennec and interrogative look, but when the other mammal collected his gun and removed the safety from it, Connor knew they where in trouble.

Suddenly, the whole car was rocked as something landed on its roof.  
Finnick immediately aimed the gun above his head and began shooting, piercing the metal of the car.  
Once the fennec had emptied the magazine, everyone waited in silence, none of the three mammals daring to move a muscle.  
When Connor was about to breathe a sigh of relief, three clawed fingers, attached to a slender, grey arm, crashed through the window next to him.  
The red panda covered his face from the rain of glass shards, and the next thing he knew, something jerked him outside of the vehicle, throwing him carelessly on the ground.

Groaning from the pain, he laid on his back; the Predator jumped from the roof of the car right next to him.  
He watched helplessly as the creature raised his arm, ready to strike at him, when something hit it on the head.  
Both Connor and the Predator turned their head, and saw Abby standing outside of the car, a second rock in his paw ready to be thrown.  
The creature began charging at her, when it abruptly stooped, titled his head and then vanished into the forest at light speed.

"Thank you." Connor said as he slowly got back to his feet, every inch of his body aching.

"I couldn't let you die: you haven't paid the rent of this month yet." She replied, managing a half-hearted smile, even though what had just happened had left her clearly shaken.

"Why did it left, though?" Connor wondered,

"I bet Nick has touched something he shouldn't have: it's heading is way." Finnick said.

* * *

 **ABANDONED HUT, FOREST OF DEAN, 12:20 AM**

"Yeah, and I bet mommy isn't too far away either." Nick said.

Judy came closer and looked at the content of the crate: the creepy little things kept cry loudly, but she preferred to focus on that rather than on the rotting body parts surrounding them.  
"If this are what bats will evolve in, I don't want to imagine what rabbit will look like in the future." She said, a bit disgusted.

"Well, I wouldn't really call this an evolution. It's more looks more something like an involution." Nick told her.

"A what?" Koslov asked.

"A regression to a more primitive, savage lifeform. This creatures might be intelligent, but not nearly as much as current mammals." Nick explained.

"What might make that happen?" Judy asked Nick, curious.

"I don't know for sure. Maybe some extreme natural disaster will destroy our civilization and, over the course of many years, this will be the most suitable shape to survive in an hostile environment. Maybe some genetic alteration." Nick hypothesized.

Skye was about to say something, when an adult Predator came crashing through the ceiling.  
The three polar bears aimed their weapons at it and opened fire, while Judy and the two foxes took cover behind the box containing the creature's cubs.

Judy leant over the side of the crate and saw the creature easily dodging the bullets, jumping from one side of the room to the other, climbing on the walls and ceiling with impressive speed.  
At one point, Kevin ran out of bullets, and in that very moment the creature attacked him, slashing his throat open with his claws.  
The bear fell to his knees, holding his neck with his paws as blood stained his white fur.

The two remaining bears, who had ceased fire due to fear of hitting Kevin, roared with rage and reprised the attack, but without better results.  
"We have to do something!" Judy shouted at Nick over the noise of the guns.

She saw Nick0s eyes darting all over the room, before stopping on a small opening in the side of the hut, near to them.  
"I've got this!" He replied, and Judy in that moment knew she wasn0t going to lime the fox's plan.

She observed as he got up, grabbed one of the screaming cubs in one paw and ran toward the tear in the wall, vanishing through it.  
The Predator, which had just bit off Raymond's arm, noticed the kidnapping, and immediately left to purse the abductor.

 _'Dumb fox!'_ She cursed in her head as he headed after Nick, gun ready in her paws, ignoring Koslov shouting at her.  
Once outside, she quickly looked around, and caught a glimpse of a reddish tail entering in a nearby building: an old greenhouse, judging by the glass panels it was made off.  
The bunny sprinted toward its entrance, and was by Nick's side in a matter of seconds; moments later, the Predator rushed in as well, but it stopped its charge as Nick held the creature's cub before him.

"Now what? It can basically anticipate were I'm going to shoot." Judy told the fox.

"Well, my plan kinda ends here. I kinda acted on instinct. " Nick admitted.

 _"WHAT!?"_

"I've never said my instinct was good." Nick retorted.

The creature screeched, ending the argument.  
Slowly, it was approaching them; it was only a matter of time before it decided to attack.  
' _Think, Judy, think.'_ Judy was racking her brains, trying to find a way out of that situation.  
Then, she recalled what Nick had told Abby about the frogs interfering with the creature sonar, and a plan took shape in her head.

Judy raised her gun, but instead of aiming at the Predator, she began shooting at the glass panels on the ceiling, right above the creature.  
The thousands shards falling created a sort of 'noise wall': she noticed how the Predator started to move its head around, trying to located her and Nick.  
For a brief moment, they became invisible to it.  
That was when Judy pointed her gun at the creature head and shot it.

The Predator fell dead, a bleeding hole in its skull.

* * *

 **FIRST ANOMALY SITE, FOREST OF DEAN, 13:30 AM**

Nick watched as the ambulance left: inside, Raymond was fighting for his life, having loss a lot of blood after the Predator had bit off his arm.  
Kevin was already dead when Big's doctors had arrived.

"That must have been horrible." Abby said as he joined him.

"Koslov took it harder than anyone." Nick told her, as he rested his gaze to the remaining polar bear with a look over his shoulder.  
"They were like brothers to about you?"

"Finnick and I are unharmed; Connor has a few bruises and scratches, but will live." Abby replied.  
"Now what?"

Nick remained quiet for a moment.  
He knew what had to be done, but just thinking about it unsettled the fox.  
"We finish the job." He sighed.

Nick turned to face the rest of the team.  
"You have all seen what one of these creature was able to do." He said aloud addressing everyone.  
"We cannot leave them roam free in the present or, even worse, in the past: they could irreparably damage and modify the timeline."

Koslov raised his head and spoke for the first time since the hut.  
"What do propose we do?" The bear flatly asked him.

"We go through the anomaly into the Permian, and once there we'll locate the anomaly which links to the future. We'll set a permanent team there, to keep it under control and avoiding further incursion by future creatures." Nick explained.

Nick was invested by a chaotic horde of question and insults.  
"Who is supposed to go there?"  
"Have you lost your fucking mind?"  
"How can we locate the other anomaly?"  
"Are you being serious?"

"ENOUGH!" Koslov roared, hushing everyone.  
"Go on, Wilde."

"Thank you."  
Nick exhaled deeply before continuing.  
"I don't like this either, but the stakes are too high to let that anomaly unguarded. I know that we cannot use a compass to locate the other anomaly, since the magnetic field from the first one would interfere, but luckily we have those." He pointed at a metallic box, in which they had trapped the Predator infants.  
"I'm confident we can use their homing instinct to find the anomaly. Mr. Big told me he is sending more mammals, who will join us on the other side."

"Us?" Judy cut in.

"I, Koslov and Skye." Nick replied.

"I want to come." Judy advanced until she was face to face with him.

"You are needed here." He replied, his voice softening a little.  
"They need someone to guide and protect them." Nick nodded in the direction of Connor, Abby and Finnick.

"And I need you." The bunny replied, her eyes watering. "I told you when we first met."

"I'm not that important." Nick said with a gentle smile, then softly kissed her on her forehead.

He then parted from her, walked up to Finnick and shook his paw.  
"Keep an eye on that bunny, will you?" Nick asked with a smile.

"Sure. Any other last wish?" Finnick asked, grinning back.

"Yeah. If I don't make it back, throw Big inside the worst anomaly you can find." He laughed, ending the handshake.  
"Abby, keep Red out of trouble, and Red, I expect you to built that detector."

"Count on me, Professor." Abby and Connor said together.

"Can we get moving now?" Skye asked impatiently, rolling her eyes.

Nick then headed for the anomaly, where Skye and Koslov were waiting for him, the latter carrying the box with the Predator young.  
He noticed Skye briefly blinking to Finnick, but he paid to it not much mind.  
The fox was about to step inside the glowing portal, when someone grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around.

"Please, don't go." Judy begged him. "I have a terrible feeling about this. What if the anomaly closes before you come back?"

"I'll just have to wait for it to reopen." Nick replied confident. "I'll be back, Carrots. I promise."

"You better do that!"  
Then she got on the tips of her toes and kissed him.  
Nick at first stiffened, but then kissed her back passionately, wrapping his arms around her.

 _'But Nick, she's a bunny.'_ A small voice in the back of his head told him.  
 _'Who cares!"_ Replied a second voice, shutting up the first one.

And he didn't care: about what species she was, about the awkward stares he could feel on them, even about the Future Predators.  
For a beautiful moment, the only thing that mattered was the bunny he was kissing and holding tight against him.

Eventually, Nick had to end the kiss.  
"Now I'll definitely come back." He told her with his usual smug.  
And his smile, if possible, grew even wider when he saw the stunned look on Skye's face.  
Then, he crossed the anomaly.

* * *

 **PERMIAN HILLS, 24O MILLION YEARS AGO**

As a polar bear, Koslov avoided excessively hot places.  
However, in that moment he would have preferred to be in Sahara Square more than were he was.  
The sandy landscape was sprinkled with volcanic rocks and some scattered trees and bushes, while in the distance a volcano was emitting smoke.

And the heat was unbearable.  
The only things keeping him from removing the kevlar vest he was wearing was his military training and the idea of some prehistoric creature jumping at him from behind a rock.

"I'm starting to have second thoughts about staying here." He said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.  
"Let's find the damn thing."

"First, I want a picture!" Skye said, handing Nick a picture, and heading toward a rock, posing.

Koslov looked at Nick astonished, but the fox simply shrugged and shoot the picture.  
He then looked at the camera.

"Woah! It looks exactly like the one I gave you as a gift." He told her.

"Maybe because it _is_ the same, you dummy." She replied.

"What? No, it can't be. Unless…"  
Nick was looking at the camera like it could explode any moment now.  
He slowly turned his head toward Koslov, and looked at him the same way.

"What's wrong?" The bear asked.  
He didn't understand what could have upset the fox that way.  
"You look like you just saw a ghost."

"You must leave." Nick told him with urgency. "Now."

* * *

 **FIRST ANOMALY SITE, FOREST OF DEAN, 13:45**

Finnick's ears perked up, as he heard a way too familiar noise.  
He turned around, his index on the trigger of his gun, but the sound was gone.

"Finnick, what's wrong?" Judy asked him, drawing her own gun.

"Nothing. It's just… I could have sworn…" He told the bunny, lowering the weapon.

He looked at the anomaly, a terrible suspicion forming in his mind.  
 _'Please, let me be wrong…'_

* * *

 **PERMIAN HILLS, 240 MILLION YEARS AGO**

"I'm not going anywhere." The bear told him.

"No, you don't understand. This is before Carrots and I first came here. When we did, we found this very camera with the same identical picture in it." Nick told him.  
The fox knew he had to convince the bear to leave, but he couldn't tell him he had seen his skeleton.  
He was sure of that now: the ursine remains he had Judy had first travelled into the past were Koslov's.

"What are you talking about?" Koslov asked confused.

Why had he to be so stubborn?  
Couldn't he just trust him on this?  
"Okay, I'll try explain. When I First crossed that anomaly, it brought me to Permian, like now, except now we are in a point in time _before_ that."  
But Koslov kept looking at him with a baffled expression.

"Imagine time as a clock." Skye cut in. "Let's say that the Permian era is from one o'clock to two o'clock.  
Now, the anomaly took us to a point in time which corresponds to quarter past one, while when Nick and the bunny went through it the first time, they found themselves at a quarter to two."

"Okay, I think I've got this. Still, I don't see the problem." Koslov said, shrugging.

"Because things I know will happen in the future, like Skye loosing his camera, have yet to happen, so maybe we can prevent them from happening!" Nick replied embittered.

"And what, exactly, are you trying to 'prevent from happening'? What is it you aren't telling me?"

Nick decided that telling him was worth the risk.  
"We found a body-" He began, but was interrupted by cry.  
They all turned to face the source of the noise: another Future Predator.  
The creature produced a low growl, and the infants withon the Box Koslov was holding began squirming and crying out.

"Both parents take care of the offspring. Fascinating." Skye whispered.

"Yeah, really fascinating, now RUN!" Koslov barked, and the trio headed for a patch of trees not too far away.

 _'No, not there…'_ Nick thought desperate.  
But he could only happen has the events he had tried to change unfolded before his eyes.

They made it to the trees, but the Predator ran ahead of them and cut them off.  
They came to an halt and Nick, startled, dropped the camera.

"HEY! THIS WAY!" Koslov shouted, rattling the metal box and causing the Predator's to cry out in protest.  
He began running away from the two foxes, and the creature went after him.

But the bear didn't go far.  
The Future Predator jumped on his back, digging with his claws in his flesh.  
With a pained roar, Koslov fell, the crate once in his paws now flying sideways.  
Nick helplessly stared as the creature hit the bear over and over again, tearing his skin and exposing muscles and bones, his screams weaker and weaker.

That massacre was interrupted by a earth shaking roar; the Future stopped his arm mid-air and turned to face his new opponent.  
A mighty Gorgonopsid emerged from behind the crest of a nearby hill.  
The two creature aggressively roared at each other, seeing the other as a threat.

The creature from the future didn't hesitate and attacked the massive beast.  
The Gorgonipsid tried to close his powerful jaws around the Predator, but the latter was too fast: Nick observed with a mix of wonder and terror as the Predator speed and small body frame to slip and avoid the Gorgonopsid bites, then the Predator climbs on the beast body, tearing deep cuts in its neck, head and body.

When the fight seemed over, however, the Gorgonopsid threw its body up, the Future Predator still clinging to it, and landed on his back, crushing the Predator under the weight of his massive body.  
The Gorgonopsid slowly got up and roared victoriously, before leaving dragging the carcass of the Predator away with it.

When he was sure the Gorgonopsid was gone, Nick ran to Koslov.  
He knelt beside his head.  
The bear laid in a puddle of blood, but was still alive, even if barely.  
"Please…" The bear begged, wheezing. "Tell… Morris… I… love…him."

Nick wanted to reassure him, to tell him that he was going to be okay, that he could have told him that by himself.  
But when he looked in Koslov's eyes, he saw the bear knew this was his end.  
They both knew that.

So, instead of lying, he promised.  
"I will. You have my word." He told him tearing up.  
Koslov smiled weakly, before passing away.

Nick clenched a shaking fist and hit it on the ground: anger began to fill him, as warm tears streamed down his cheeks.  
"I'm sorry…" He whispered to the lifeless bear, before sliding down his eyelids. "I couldn't save you."

He felt movement behind him: Skye walked past him and went for the metal crate.  
She kicked it, and smiled when angered screeches came in response to it.  
"Come on." She told him as she lifted the box. "We have an anomaly to find."

"A good mammal just gave his life for us." He told her, outraged. "Could you show some respect?"

"We'll mourn later. If we don't move quickly, the anomaly could close."

Nick slowly raised his head and looked at her.  
"That's the only thing you care about, don't you?" Nick realized. "That's why you've been helping us: you just wanted to reach the anomaly to the future!"

"I also wanted to see you." She said with a mellifluous voice, getting by his side.  
She leant forward to kiss him, but the fox pushed the vixen back.

"Stay away from me." He spat disgusted.

"Fine. Do as you want." Skye replied, her face clearly showing the disappointment.  
She started to leave, but Nick grabbed her by her wrist.

"I won't let you travel to the future." He growled firmly. "You have already caused enough damages as it is, and heaven knows what you could do with knowledge from the future."  
Skye tried to yank her arm free, but Nick's hold was strong.

She looked at him enraged, then a sly smile spread over her face as she stared to a point in the distance behind Nick's back.  
"Then I guess your precious little bunny will have to wait a long time to see you again.

* * *

 **FIRST ANOMALY SITE, FOREST OF DEAN, 14.00 AM**

The anomaly flickered again, and again Judy flinched.  
It took all her willpower not to jump inside the anomaly when it had began to show sign of growing weaker.

Someone took her paw, startling her: she turned, expecting to see Abby, but instead of the otter there was Finnick next to her.

"It won't do any good if you get stuck there with him. We must have faith that he'll make it back." He told her, gently squeezing her paw.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to just stand here and watch." She admitted with a lump in he throat.

"I wasn't either. That's why I'm here holding your paw." The fennec sighed, giving Judy and half-hearted smile.

Judy nodded in understanding and smiled back.  
They stood there in silence, staring at the anomaly as its flickering became more and more frequent.

* * *

 **PERMIAN HILLS, 240 MILLION YEARS AGO**

Nick's eyes widened in horror as he followed Skye's gaze to the closing anomaly.

"who are you going to choose, dear? Me or her?" She chuckled amused.

For a moment, Nick was tempted to let Skye go and ran back to the present.  
Instead, he tightened his hold on her wrist.

"I won't let you get to the future, even if that means being stuck here with you!" He told her firmly.

Skye reacted with surprise at this, then sighed.  
"You asked for this." She said as she hit him squarely and hard on the side of the head with the metallic box she was holding in her free paw.

Nick let go of her arm and fell to the ground.  
He tasted blood in his mouth and felt dizzy.  
The fox tried to get up, but he immediately regretted that, as the whole word began spinning and he found himself on his knees.

His ears were ringing, but he could make out the steps of the vixen walking away from him.  
He opened his eyes, but everything was blurry.  
The white shape of his wife stopped, and turned around.  
"On the off chance you make it back, feel free to kiss and bang that stupid bunny; after all, I what I've been doing with Finnick for the past ten years." She told him, words as sharp as knives.

Confused, shocked and enraged at the revelation of the betrayal, Nick lunged for Skye one last time, but he fell on his belly.  
Skye disappeared behind the crest of a hill, cackling.

Realizing he could do nothing to stop the vixen, Nick slowly turned his throbbing head in the direction of he anomaly, a glowing dot in the distance.  
He lifted his arm with a tremendous effort, as if trying to catch the anomaly with his paw.  
Then, the dot vanished.

 _'No! Carrots…'_ Was Nick's last coherent thought before passing out.

* * *

 **NEXT TIME:** Are you for real? I won't spoil what happens after a cliffhanger like that!  
Just stay tuned to find out what comes next!

* * *

 **Notes:** So, you weren't expecting that, were you?  
With this episode, ends the first 'arc' of "Primetopia".  
From the next episode, a few thing will change, and new characters will make their debut.  
Thank you for stiking around up to this point, and also thaks for the support you are showing me!  
it really motivates me in going on with the story!  
As always, remeber to leave your review!  
Bye!

TheNightManager


	7. Episode 7: Welcome To Zystopia(re-write)

**Notes:** So, after reading the reviews for the previous version of this chapter, and after chatting with the awesome Cimar-WildeHopps, whom I'll never be able to thank enough for all the support and help he has given me, I decidednto rewrite the chapter, changing some bits here and there.  
Hooe you'll like this version better, as I do.

* * *

 **EPISODE 7: WELCOME TO ZYSTOPIA**

 **PERMIAN HILLS, 240 MILLIONS YEARS AGO**

Nick slowly came back to his senses.  
At first, it was hard to keep his eyes open: the bright sun blinded him, his head felt like it was about to explode and a sense of nausea was menacing to make him loose his breakfast.  
He just wanted to go back to sleep.

 _'Why is it so_ hot _here?'_ He wondered; his last memories were a haze, and trying to remember only made the pounding in his head worse.  
The fox managed to get to his paws and knees, and turned his head to the left.

His gaze fell upon Koslov's lifeless body, and the events of the last hours flooded his brain, overwhelming him: Nick emptied the content of his stomach on the ground.  
When his body ceased to shake and the gagging was over, he tried to get back on his feet: the fox crawled to a nearby tree and, leaning against it, managed to stand.

Nick took a few deep breath, then, still holding on the trunk, he looked around: the anomaly was really gone, it had been a bad dream.  
He was trapped, marooned millions of years away from his home.

Panic began to grow inside him: what was he supposed to do now?  
He closed his eyes, fighting back the urge to curl into a ball and cry; instead, he grabbed one of the lowest branch and pulled it.  
Using that as cane, Nick began to head in the general direction Skye had walked off: if he could not go back to he present, he would have at least ensured that the vixen didn't make it to the future.

But once he got to the ridge of the hill, Nick realized he couldn't do that either: his forwmer wife was nowhere to be seen, and hadn't left any clue about where she had gone.

Nick sighed forlorn and turned back.  
His gaze once again returned to the deceased bear: Koslov deserved better than to rotten under the sun and serve as buffet for the local fauna.  
So he slowly began to collect every rock he could find and used them cover the body: in the end, he was looking at what resembled a rudimental burial mound.  
Judging by the position of the sun, Nick estimated about three hours had passed since he had crossed through the anomaly.

He sat there, near the grave of his friend: Nick was thirsty and hungry, but no water nor food seemed to available nearby, and Nick wasn't sure how far he could walk in his condition.

 _'Beside, my best shot at getting back home is for the anomaly to reopen.'_ Nick thought.  
 _'Yeah, because you've been_ that _lucky lately, haven't you?'_ A far more pessimistic voice replied in his head.  
Right then, with a flash of light an anomaly showed up 50 meters away from him.  
Nick's jaws hung open, the fox incredulous he was really seeing that: without further hesitation, he gathered his remaining strength to reach it.

Those few meters felt like he had been running for miles: he staggered the whole way, afraid the glowing portal might close at any time, but eventually, he managed to cross the anomaly, or ,to be more precise, he fell through it.

The soft soil of the Forest of Dean welcomed his face, the taste of mud mixing with the acrid flavor of the vomit and the metallic one of the blood, but for Nick it was the best thing he had ever tasted.  
 _'Maybe not exactly the best. Surely in the top ten.'_ He admitted to himself, spitting out some dirt.

He got back on unsteady legs and took a few steps forward, putting some distance between him and the anomaly.  
He looked around, but no one was there except for him.

"A couple hours? Really!?" he shouted out loud to no one in particular  
"Is that all it takes to give up on me?"

He felt some movement in the brushes behind him, but before he could turn around, something hit him on his nape: a tingling sensation spread all over his body, and all his muscles suddenly went limp, causing him to fell once again face-first into the ground.

Before blacking out, he heard a familiar female voice shouting his name, then cursing at someone else.

* * *

 **"LITTLE MALL ON THE PRAIRIE", MEADOWLANDS, 8:30 PM**

Contrary to what the name suggested, Jacob's workplace was the second largest mall in Zootopia.  
The security guard pushed a hoof against the door in front of him, confirming it was locked.

The goat turned around, to proceed in his usual inspection after the closure of the mall.  
Everything had been normal, so far, like every single night before that one.  
 _'Boringly normal'_ He mentally lamented.

He kept walking down the empty hallway, stopping abruptly as he heard noises coming from the door identified as toilets by a plaque on it.  
"Damn kits!" He groaned under his breath.  
it wouldn't be the first time some teen thought it'd be fun to hide and spend he night in the mall.  
Understanding the reasoning behind that conclusion, though, was beyond him.  
Sighing annoyed, Jacob opened the toilets room.

"Come on, come out! I know you are in he…"  
Jacob froze as he saw the wall of scales, fangs and claws standing before him.  
In his last moments of life, Jacob bitterly regretted it hadn't been another one of those boring night.

* * *

Nick was welcomed back to consciousness by the beeping noise of some kind of machinery.  
He still felt dizzy, but he wasn't hurting anymore.  
 _'Painkillers.'_ He realized.  
The fox slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to clear his vision, and smacking his dry mouth a couple times.

He was laying in a bed, in a hospital room.  
Nick rolled his head on one side, and there she was: Judy was sitting in a chair next to him, looking away from him.

"I knew I had heard you, Carrots." He managed to say weakly.  
Her ears perked up as she turned to face him.

"Nick!" A relieved smile spread on the doe's face.  
She extended one paw toward him, but she stopped a few inches away, as if she was afraid he might disintegrate upon touch: when Nick tried to reach back, however, he found out he couldn't move.

Nick frowned confused, and shifted his gaze from Judy to his body, seeing that his limbs were strapped to the railings on the sides of the bed.  
He also perceived something circular around his neck, like some kind of collar.  
"Uhhh… Isn't this a little too kinky for a first date?" Nick asked, trying to hide his nervousness.

"I'm sorry, I tried to tell them this wasn't necessary, but…" Judy trailed off, clearly uneasy.  
"Many things have changed, while you were gone."

Nick tilted his head, confused. "What do you mean?"  
"Wait… Have I been in a coma?"

"No, you've slept only a couple of hours." She reassured him.  
"Still…" She trailed off once again, fixing her eyes on him.

"What?"  
Nick felt that something was off, but he couldn't really figure out what it was, his mind still a bit clouded by the painkillers.

"Nothing, it's… you look good." She stated.  
Then, seeing the smug expression on his face, she quickly added: "That's not… I mean… for someone who has spent such a long time trapped in the Permian."

"Don't exaggerate… It has been… what? A few hours?" Nick said, shrugging.

"W-what do you mean by that?" She inquired, raising her brow.

"I've been gone for three hours. Four top. Not a big deal." He explained.

"Oh… sweet cheese and crackers…" Judy muttered, covering her mouth apparently shocked by the revelations.

"Judy… what is going on?" Nick asked, feeling that something was really wrong.  
Then, he noticed a detail of her look that he had missed before: the doe had now two small earrings on her left ear, while the last time Nick had seen her, Judy didn't even had a hole in it.  
Nick gulped nervously, a dreadful sensation beginning to fill him.  
"Judy… how long has it passed since the day I've left?" Nick struggled to look calm, but he was getting harder to breath slowly each passing seconds.

"I… Nick…" She began, but Nick tuned her out when his eyes fell onto a calendar hanging on the wall: it read April 24th, 2018.

"2018" The fox mouthed, utterly stunned and shocked.  
"It was 2016 when…t-two… _two years?!_ " He almost screamed."Nonononono, this isn't right!"  
Nick began to panic, trashing around and trying to free himself from the straps.  
He had to go back, back to the past.  
He had to fix this.

"Nick, please, calm down!" Judy begged him. "You'll only end up hurting yourself!"

But Nick barely registered her words, instead intensifying his struggles; he didn't even notice that the collar around his neck began beeping.  
He noticed, however, when it released a small electric charge in his body, which made Nick yelp in pain.  
The light shock helped him clear his mind a bit, and he relaxed a bit, ceasing his fight against the binding.

"Why do I have this?! It's Mr. Big's doing?!" Nick demanded, pointing at his neck with his finger the best way he could, given his restrains.

The doe slowly shook her head.  
"We no longer work with Big. And that is a 'tame collar'." Judy explained to him with a sad sigh.  
"Every predator wears one."

Nick was speechless.  
How was such a thing possible?

As if reading his thought, Judy added: "As I was saying, many things have changed."

* * *

 **"LITTLE MALL ON THE PRAIRIE", MEADOWLANDS, 9:00 PM**

"STOP!"

The car skidded to a halt right before the front door of the mall.  
Connor got out in the chilly air of the night, double checking the screen of his device: there was no doubt, the anomaly was there.

"Thankfully it's closed." Abby noted beside him.

"Thankfully?! How are we supposed to get inside ?" Finnick grunted.

"Don't worry." Came a fourth, female voice as the mammal at which it belonged produced a smartphone from a pocket of her jacket. "I'm sure Wolfster can get us in with a couple of phone calls."

* * *

 **ZOOTOPIA GENERAL HOSPITAL, DOWNTOWN, 9:02 PM**

Judy looked at the distraught fox laying in the bed before her: the left side of his skull had been bandaged to cover a bad wound, a couple of needles in his arms connected him to a drip to rehydrate the tod and many electrodes were attached to his chest to monitor his vitals.

The doe was still trying to wrap her head about the recent development: what for her had been years, for Nick had only been a few hours.  
Yet another unwanted gift by the anomalies.  
But he was still alive and ,for Judy, that much was enough.

"Tell me."  
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Nick's voice.  
"Tell me what has happened since I've left." The fox repeated, almost pleading.

"Very well." Judy nodded.  
"After the anomaly closed, we kept working with Mr. Big to contain the anomalies, but the shrew had lost trust in us; all his best mammals were dead or crippled for life, so he started limiting his aid to cover up our stunts. Beside that, we were on our own.  
"On the bright side, Connor managed to built an Anomaly Detector, thanks to your hunch about anomaly generating interference, thus making our response time much shorter."

That news seemed to cheer up a bit the fox.  
"That is how you were so quick to reach the anomaly when I came back." Nick guessed, and Judy confirmed by nodding again.

"Anyway, without any backup from Big, fighting the creature's incursion had become a full-time job, to the point where on month two after your disappearance, I quit my job at the ZPD.  
Whenever we could, we would go back to the Forest of Dean, hoping you or Koslov would come back.  
"Everything stayed that way for about six more months, when an anomaly opened and a stegosaur wreaked havoc in the city hall: we managed to send it back, but Mayor Lionheart had found out our secret."

"Now the existence of anomalies is public knowledge?" Nick interrupted, surpised.

"Thankfully, no. It happened late in the evening, when most of the personnel had already left and in a part of the City Hall that was being refurbished, so we managed to keep the number of witnesses at a minimum.  
One of said witnesses being Lionheart himself, we were forced to explain him what was going on: luckily, he too was concerned about the mass panic that something like that would have caused, since a few other creature sighting from previous incursion we had handle a bit… sloppily had began to find their way on the web, arousing a few questions and concerns.  
So, not wanting to throw more gasoline on the already big fire that was the predator-induced panic, he decided instead to created an organization dedicated to the study of the anomaly and the containment of the creature: the Anomaly Research Center, A.R.C. for short."  
To prove what she was saying, Judy pulled out a badge from her jacket, which had her photo on it as well as the circular logo of the organization.

"You turned your hobby into a job." Nick summed up, smiling weakly.

"That I did." She replied nodding. "And the others too. A few other mammals joined us as well: James Wolfster has been appointed as the administrator of the organization. He is a bit cold and strict, but I think he cares for the team in the end.  
Then, we have Dawn Bellwether, former assistant mayor, she is now our liaison with City Hall.  
And finally, Katy Hopps."

"Hopps? Is she a parent of yours?" Nick asked, incredulous.

"Yep, she's one of my siblings, from my very same litter." She confirmed.  
"She graduated in paleontology a few months after we found out about the anomaly; Lionheart wanted an expert on these creature we could trust, so I proposed her."

"Well, at least you found a proper replacement for me." Nick grumbled.

* * *

 **"LITTLE MALL ON THE PRAIRIE", MEADOWLANDS, 9:15 PM**

Katy watched as Finnick picked the lock of the mall's main entrance.  
As Wolfster had assured her, no alarm went off, as the wolf had contacted the agency providing that service to the mall and made them turn off the security system of the building remotely.

The bunny walked in first, her weapon ready in her firm paws.  
She was mentally going over the training Judy had put her through: this was her first mission leading the team without her sister.  
The main hall was clear.

"Guys, come in." Katy said as she ventured deeper into the mall.  
"Connor, where now?"

"Keep going straight, the anomaly should be somewhere ahead of us." The red panda replied checking the pawheld anomaly detector he was carrying.

Katy nodded and went forward, only to stop a few steps later.

"What?" Finnick asked, annoyed.  
It was clear that the fennec didn't want to be there, probably preferring to stay at the hospital with Judy; still, the had a job to do, and the fox would still be in that bed once the mission was be over.

The bunny pointed to the ceiling, were a surveillance camera could be seen.  
"We can use the video surveillance to track down whatever got out of the anomaly." She replied; Katy knew better than to pick a fight with the grumpy fennec.  
"Abby, Connor, you go to the security office, guide us from there. Finnick , you and I will head for the anomaly."

Abby and Connor nodded, and Finnick seemed to like the plan as well, thankfully.  
The red panda gave Katy the pawheld detector, then went with the otter toward the security office.

* * *

 **ZOOTOPIA GENERAL HOSPITAL, DOWNTOWN, 9:20 PM**

Nick remained quiet for a while, taking in what Judy had told him.  
"Okay, but nothing of that explains why every predator in the whole city has to wear _these_!" Nick said, once again pointing at the tame collar around his neck.

"I suppose you remember what the situation was like when you left, after Happytown." Judy told him.  
Nick nodded silently to confirm.  
"Well, from there, the situation only grew worse: many aggressions, lethal ones, against prey happened, and that only increased the tensions between the two factions."

"Wait a second!" Nick interrupted her "The Happytown accident had been caused by a creature. Couldn't it have been the same case for the other aggressions?"

"At first, we thought the same." Judy replied gravely.  
"In fact, we were convinced that creatures we weren't able to track down in time were to blame for the killings. When Connor finally managed to put together the first anomaly detection device, we actually hoped we might be able to put an end to the bloodshed."

"Let me guess: you weren't." Nick interjected snarky.

Judy slowly shook her head.  
"The streak of killings kept happening, and the detector didn't pick up any anomaly opening when they happened…"  
Nick opened his mouth to say something, but Judy was quicker.  
"…AND no, we have no reason to doubt the accuracy of Connor's device. It has never missed an anomaly, when they did open up."

"In how many cases the culprit of the aggression has been arrested and proven guilty?" Nick inquired.

"Very few, actually." Judy admitted.  
"But that doesn't change the fact that we have no reason to believe creatures were responsible of them: we investigated and searched the area of many of the aggression, but we never found any clue of an incursion.  
"Anyway, many prey began to claim that predator where returning to a more… _savage_ state, calling in some biological issues…"

"Pfft, that's ridiculous." Nick blurted out.

"… so, being a predator himself, Lionheart lost the elections one year ago. The new mayor, Dennis Hornwell, a ram, proposed a law to keep predator under control: the tame collars.  
"They activate whenever a predator is experiencing a particularly strong emotion, whether positive or negative."

"And he has been allowed to do something like that!?" Nick exclaimed, baffled.

"A city-wide voting was held: seventy percent of the population voted in favor of it, and so the law passed."She said, clearly uneasy about the subject.

"I can't believe it! What kind of sadistic bastards would ever vote…"

"I almost did it myself." Judy muttered.

Nick almost missed it.  
"I… f-for a moment there, I-I thought you said…" Nick stammered, refusing to believe to what the doe had just said.

"I wanted to vote to pass the law about the tame collars." Judy repeated louder, shaking a little.

Nick froze.  
It was like being hit by Skye all over again, only this time the target had been his stomach.

"Why?" He finally managed to say in a hushed, flat tone.

"I kept thinking 'what if this is the beginning?'" Judy replied.

Nick frowned, confused.  
"The beginning of what?"

"Of the Future Predators. You said it yourself: they were like bats regressed to a more 'savage, primitive lifeform'." Judy explained.  
Nick recognized those last few words as being his own.

"Everything I've ever done, joining the ZPD, and then the ARC , I have done it with the belief I was helping other mammals. Knowing what the world might turn into, could I just stand there and watch it end?" She said somewhat somberly, her head hanging low.  
"Eventually, though, I decided against it: if I was going to change the future, I was going to do it my way, without forcing other mammals to live terrible lives in the name of some 'greater good'."

"Damn dumb bunny, you used my words against me. Now I can't really blame you for thinking that, can I?" Nick finally said, after musing a little on Judy's speech, a soft smile slowly crept on his muzzle.

"It doesn't matter anyway: the law still passed, and now predators have to live in terrible condition, probably only because we are still missing some piece of the puzzle." She replied.

"Tell me one last thing: has the number of aggression decreased after the introduction of tame collars?" He asked her after a brief pause.

"Yes, it did."

"Then, something good _did_ come out from the collars, even though I agree with you: there's still something fishy about this whole thing and you can bet I'm going to find out what is going on." Nick told her, confident.

Finally, the hint of a smile appeared on Judy's muzzle as well.  
"I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this, together."

* * *

 **"LITTLE MALL ON THE PRAIRIE", MEADOWLANDS, 9:25 PM**

Following the indications of the anomaly detector, Katy entered inside an arcade named 'Beep-Beep-I'm-a-Sheep'.  
Strolling behind her, Finnick decided to ignore the stupid name of the establishment, or the fact that a sign on the door read 'NO PREDATOR ALLOWED INSIDE'.

As soon as they got in, however, Finnick focused is attention on the various destroyed items scattered all over the place.  
He raised his left paw to his ear, activating the intercom, while simultaneously holding his gun in his right paw, ready to shoot at any sign of movement.  
"Connor, Abby, do you copy? We have a confirmed incursion."

"Y-yeah, we just found the night watchmammal, or what's left of him." Abby stammered through his earpiece.

"Okay, keep moving toward the security office, we need to locate the creature." Katy interjected; looking over at her, Finn saw that she as well had her weapon drawn.  
"Any clue on what it could be?"

"No, the body is too damaged to make out any sign of bites or claw marks useful to identify the creature. But it is definitively carnivorous." Connor filled them in.

"Of course. It's never something fluffy and docile." Finnick complained aloud.

"Then be careful. Let us know if anything else happens." Katy said, ending the conversation.

The bunny and the fennec fox kept following the signal of the anomaly, finally finding it in the back of a bowling alley.  
"Well, looks like the creature is not here." Katy noted, relaxing a bit and lowering her gun.

"Then let's not waste any more time, we have to search this whole place." Finnick bluntly replied.  
He wanted to get over with that mission as soon as possible, to get to the hospital where Nick was.  
He had to ask a few question to the fox that, according to what Skye had told him, had been torn apart by a Future Predator.

He and Katy left the arcade, and began to sweep the ground floor of the mall, which was a painfully slow procedure, as the had to check every single shop and bar they came across.  
They had almost searched the whole floor, only a few more establishment left, when hey came across the door leading to the locker room for the employees of the mall.

Finn and Katy exchanged a quick glance and a nod, then he kicked the door, storming in with his gun raised.  
With the corner of his eye, the fennec saw something moving behind a bench, and began shooting: from his gun, instead of normal bullets, a series of small, white, glowing orbs erupted, leaving behind only some scorch marks on impact.

Finnick ceased to fire, though, as his target began screaming and begging him to stop.

* * *

 **ZOOTOPIA GENERAL HOSPITAL, DOWNTOWN, 9:35 PM**

"EMDs?" Nick interjected to ask her.

"Electro Muscular Disruption weapons." Judy explained.  
"They are a new kind of firearm we use at the ARC. Finnick and Connor came up with the project."  
The doe noticed what looked like an angry twich on the fox's muzzle at the mention of the fennec fox, but it was just for a moment, so she wrote it off as a pain twich instead.

"How do they work?" Nick asked curious.

"I won't even try to pretend the science behind it" the doe admitted.  
"Basically, they are powered by a battery and shoot some kind of 'bolts' of electricity, and have various settings, with the higher one of the most powerful version theoretically able to knock a T-Rex out cold.  
"We use them as the chances of killing the creatures are lower, even if they can be lethal: they interfere with the muscular coordination of the creature and can nock them out, as you have experienced when an overzealous ARC soldier shot you when you came back from the anomaly."

"Yeah, that wasn't pleasant." The fox confirmed  
"Well, looks like you've improved a lot in these two years." Nick commented.

Now that Judy had finally finished filling Nick in about almost everything that had happened in his absence, it was her turn to question the fox.  
"Nick, what happened in the Permian?"

The fox hung his head, and sighed.  
"Apparently, Mr. Big was right about Skye all along: she used us only so she could get to see the future. The last time I saw her, she was leaving with the Future Predator cubs, right after she had tried to crack my skull open."

Judy clenched her fists in anger.  
That vixen was going to pay, sooner or later, and she would make sure of that.  
"And… what about Koslov?"

"He died to protect us." Nick simply replied, and Judy knew better than ask him for more details right know.  
He wasn't ready yet to talk about it.

* * *

 **"LITTLE MALL ON THE PRAIRIE", MEADOWLANDS, 9:40 PM**

Abby cautiously opened the door to the security office of the mall; no one was inside, so he gestured to Connor to follow her in.

The room was small and thinly furnished, with only a chair in the middle facing a wall of screen and a small console.  
"May I…?" Connor asked, pointing at the console.

"Be my guest." She made some room to let him pass, bowing jockingly.

Connor jumped into the chair and began looking at the monitors, immediately finding Katy and Finnick on one of them: they appeared to be in the locker room, and the bunny was helping a ram back to his feet.  
While the red panda began pushing bottom and pulling levers to look through the tapes in search of any footage of the creature, Abby activated her intercom.  
"Katy, Finnick, we reached the security room. Who's the guy with you?"

"A janitor, Doug Ramses." Katy voice came through her earpiece. "Finnick just _shoot_ at him."

"Oh, shut up! I didn't even hit him!" Finnick's voice protested.

"Yeah, whatever." Abby could almost hear her eye-roll. "Any news about our creature?"

"Actually yes."  
Abby turned her attention to the red panda, who was pointing a slightly shaking finger toward one of the screen.  
The otter got closer to better see the still: it showed a big reptile, standing on two legs at almost two meters and long almost seven, as Abby estimated by comparing its size to the object near it.  
The back of its neck, as well as the tip of its tail and its forelimbs were covered with brown feathers, while on the second finger of each foot it possessed a sharp, sickle-shaped claw.

"I-Is that what I think it is?" Abby stammered, horror and awe mixing at the sight of the creature.

Connor slowly nodded.

"Are you going the sbunny what you found out with us too, or we have to wait until that thing jumps out from behind a corner screaming 'SURPRISE!' ?" Finn asked impatiently.

"It's a raptor." Abby told them.

"And not even your average raptor: it looks like a Utahraptor, the biggest of them all." Connor added.

"One of the deadliest predator to ever walk this planet." Katy said aloud, worry creeping in her voice.

"Great!" Finnick groaned sarcastically.  
"This was the right day to leave the backups behind at the ARC!"

"May I remember you it was you're idea to do such a thing so they wouldn't 'get in your way'?" Katy remarked.  
Before the fennec fox could retort, the bunny added: "We must take this ram to a safe place. We are going to drop him at your location and then we'll deal with the creature. Can you guide us to you without us running into the raptor?"

"Yeah, I think so." Abby replied, gesturing to Connor to go back to locating the dinosaur.  
After a couple of seconds, the red panda gave her a thumbs up.  
"Okay, all clear."

The duo followed the bunny and the fennec as they disappeared from the screen where they had previously been and reappeared a moments later on the next one, now outside the locker room.

"Okay, go to the left: the security office is on the first floor, but you can't take the escalators, as the raptor is right in front of them."

"Then how do we get up there?" Finnick growled.

"You must reach he elevator." Abby replied, trying to sound as calm as possible, while actually her heart was racing: if she and Connor failed to guide them, they would end right in the jaws of the raptor.  
"Keep moving forward: at the end of the hallway, turn left." She instructed them.

"WAIT, DON'T!" Connor contradicted her.

"Why? What's wrong?" Abby asked.  
The red panda pointed his finger at one screen on the right corner, showing that now the raptor was exactly on the path Abby had told Katy and Finnick to follow.

"How did it get there so fast?!" Abby wondered out loud.

"It didn't." Connor replied, moving his index to a second screen.  
When she looked at it, dread began to fill her.

"Connor, Abby, what's going on?" Katy asked through the intercom.

Abby gulped nervously.  
"There's two of them."

* * *

Katy skidded to a halt.  
 _'Of course there's two of them.'_ The bunny mentally scolded herself _'Raptors hunted in pack.'_  
"Okay, where are them?" The bunny asked.

"They are coming your way." Came Abby's panicked answer from Katy's earpiece.

The doe lowered her head, pondering on their options, her eyes darting from one point of the floor to the other, as if the way to get out of that situation could have been written on those tiles.  
"Finnick, we are too exposed here; let's fall back into the locker room, it has only one entry point, it'll be easier to defend. " She finally decided.

"Agreed." The fennec replied, tugging along the ram.

"Would you please tell me what's going on?! And why is this _pred_ is dragging me around?!" Doug demanded, speaking the slang word for 'predator' as if it had a disgusting taste.

Finnick turned around, furious.  
"Listen here, I'm trying to save your life, you worthless piece of-" He was cut off by a sudden roar, coming from one end of the hallway.

The three mammals turned their head to look at the source of the sudden noise: one of the raptor had found them.  
It threw its head back and let out a different vocalization, more high pitched.

"Keep slowly moving toward the locker room." Katy ordered with a whisper, and this time the ram complied without questions.  
As the trio began to back away from it, the Utahraptor kept repeating that sound several time, until it finally got an answer.

 _'It called its partner!'_ Katy realized both with horror and fascination as she saw a second raptor appearing on the opposite end of the hallway, cutting them off from the locker room.  
All she needed to do was a slight nod, and Finn understood what she wanted him to do: the bunny and the fennec raised their weapons, each of them keeping one of the raptors in their sight, while also putting themselves between the creatures and the ram.

"What now?" Finnick barked.

"I'm thinking about it." Katy replied sharply. "For now, let's stick close to each other: they'll probaly try to isolate us before attacking."

The two dinosaurs were approaching them, tentatively at first, but growing more and more confident as they grew closer to the three mammals.

"Abby, Connor, any suggestions?"

"We are coming your way: if you can resist for a couple of minutes, we can take them out from the first floor balcony." Connor replied in the intercom

"We don't have a couple of minutes!" Finnick hissed back.  
Katy knew he was right: their version of EMD was the smallest, thought to be handled by mammals of their relatively small size, so it might take a few hits to take down an animal of the size of those Utahraptors.

"Can I shoot them?" Finnick asked

"Yes, do that!" The ram begged, as a stain began to form on his crotch.

"No!" Katy retorted.  
"You would only entice an aggressive behavior on their part, and at that point they would attack us without hesitation: fire only if they attack first."

The raptors, in the meanwhile, kept closing in, now only a few meters away from them: Katy could smell the stench of rotten meat in the creature's breath every time it exhaled.  
The raptors growled, and squatted on their hind legs, ready to pounce on the mammals.

That was when everything went south: Katy only heard a scream, and before she could stop him, Doug was running toward the door of one of the shops on the side of the hallway, probably hoping to find shelter in it.  
Two things didn't work out in the ram's plan: first, the door was locked.  
Second, now that he had separated himself fro the rest of the group, the raptor identified him as the easiest target to take down, and in the blink of an eye, the dinosaurs were on him.

The bunny's sensitive ears were filled with the terrible screams of the ram being eaten alive and the revolting sound of the flesh of the mammal being torn apart from the sharp teeth and claws of the raptors.

But she had no time now to feel sorry for the ram: she and Finnick took advantage of the creatures' distraction and ran for the end of the hallway, where they were met by a T junction.  
A quick look at the signs let them know the elevators were on the left.

"New plan: regroup with Connor and Abby." Katy quickly stated as the pair headed for the lift.  
A roar warned them that the raptors had noticed their absence ad that they were going after them.  
The two mammals ran for their life, the ticking sound of the dinosaurs' claws on the floor growing louder behind them as the creatures began to gain ground.

When a few meters away from the elevator, Katy jumped toward it, turning in mid-air and pressing the button with a foot, then bouncing away from the wall and landing back onto her feet facing the raptors, EMD ready in her hands, as she began to fire.

Finnick crouched at her side and began shooting as well, but firing and hitting their target were two very different things: the raptors were remarkably agile, zigzagging and hopping to avoid the EMDs' projectiles.

Finally, Katy managed to hit on of them on its leg, and it fell snout-first onto the ground, blacking out.  
The second one, however, managed to avoid every single hit, and leaped in their direction.  
Katy rolled sideways, and the raptor ended up flying right through the opening doors of the lift.

The bunny quickly got up and pressed the button to close the elevator's doors, trapping the dinosaur in it.  
Only then she realized Finnick was no longer beside her.

* * *

A few seconds earlier, as the raptor was leaping toward him, Finnick had took a few steps back, ending with his back against the door of the lift: when it had opened, he had fell through it, the raptor flying just inches above his head.

Then, the door had shut, trapping him in the elevator with a killer dinosaur.  
Fortunately, the elevator had been built for bigger animals than himself, so there was room enough for him and the big dinosaur, even if barely.

Finnick felt around the floor for his EMD, but it was nowhere to be found: he realized it must have fallen on the ground outside of the lift.  
He was unarmed, and the raptor had just noticed it wasn't alone.

Finn backed into the farthest corner from the creature; the raptor lunged for him and, in doing so, pressed the first floor button with its tail.  
The fennec fox jumped to dodge the assault, landing on top of the creature's muzzle.

The dinosaur roared enraged and began to shake his head, trying to get rid of the unwanted passenger, but Finnick was holding on with all his might.  
With a _PING_ the door of the elevator opened at the first floor, where Connor and Abby were waiting with their weapons drawn.

"Finnick, move!" Abby shouted.

"I wish I could!" was Finnick snarky retort.

In the meanwhile, in its struggle to take the fennec off his snout, the raptor had pressed the button to the ground floor, and the door once again closed as the elevator began descending.

Finnick climbed on top of the dinosaur's head, barely avoiding its claws.  
As the prehistoric rodeo went on, the elevator reached its destination and opened it doors before a stunned Katy.  
"Finnick, why the hell are you riding an Utahraptor?!"

"I was getting bored." He barked. "Will you please SHOOT THIS DAMN THING?!"

Katy did so, but the raptor moved at the last second, the electric bolt form the EMD instead hitting the elevator's control panel, which exploded in a cascade of sparks.  
The lift operating system short-circuited, and the cabin began to move up and down randomly, the door opening and closing as if it had a mind of his own.  
 _"This isn't really happening."_ Finnick complained internally. _"It's like the worst Zisneyland ride ever made."_

The whole display went on for some time, with Abby, Connor and Katy watching it baffled and helpless until Finnick, in his attempts to avoid the raptor's slashes, pierced one eye of the dinosaur with one of his claws.

The creature let out a pained roar and jerked his head strongly up and down several time, until finally Finn lost his grip on the creature's snout and was thrown forward by the momentum, right when the door of the elevator opened on the first floor.

The enraged raptor lunged for him, his sharp teeth mere inches from the fennec, but luckily the door of the short-circuited lift abruptly closed around the neck of the dinosaur, which snapped with a loud CRACK.

The fennec breathed a sigh of relief as the body of the creature fell lifeless into the elevator.  
"Okay guys" Finnick panted. "Let's clean up this mess and send back that other raptor to his damn era, so we can all go back home."

* * *

 **ZOOTOPIA GENERAL HOSPITAL, DOWNTOWN, 10:00 PM**

"Really? I don't believe this." Nick said.

"And yet, that's the truth." Judy replied, shrugging.

"Connor and Abby are still just friends. Unbelievable." Nick laughed softly.  
"Speaking of couples… what happened between us before-"

"Forget what has happened before." Judy sharply interrupted.  
Nick gave her an interrogative look, and Judy seemed to realize how sudden her outburst had been.  
"I'm sorry." She apologized. "It's just that…"  
Nick could clearly see her struggle to find the words in her sad eyes.

"What? There's a law against predator and prey being together?" Nick joked chuckling, trying to lighten the mood.  
His laugh died, however, when Judy somberly nodded.  
" _Seriously?!"_

"Yes, unfortunately. But that's not the reason why I'm… holding back." She explained.

"Then what? Are you telling me what we hav… what we had wasn't real?" Nick asked, hurt and confused.

"No! What I felt for you… What I still feel for you, I've never had it with any other mammals. That's why I don't know if I could bear loosing that again." She told him with watering eyes.

"Every time an anomaly opens, it could spit out the creature that we'll kill one of us. Six months ago, my heart stopped for a full minute after I got poisoned by a creature; Finnick almost got bitten in half twice; Abby almost bled to death after getting pierced by a dinosaur claw, and I could go on with more." She explained, now openly sobbing.

"For two years I kept going back in that forest, hoping that one day I'd find you there waiting for me, with that insufferable smile on your face. And now that you finally made it back, I'm afraid I couldn't handle if something like this, or even worse, happened again to the mammal I love." Judy admitted, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm not ready to go back to what we had. Not yet."

Nick stared at the bunny before him, musing on her words. Then he smiled kindly.

"Oh, you sweet, emotional bunny." The fox said in a soft, soothing voice. "You warned me not to go, but I didn't listen to you and look at what happened.  
"You've been waiting for me for two years, so I guess it's only fair if I have to wait for you; take your time. But I promise you one thing: I will never leave your side again. We'll get through this together." Nick offered Judy his paw and, this time, she took it without hesitation.

A few powerful knocks on the door brought the two mammals back to reality, Judy quickly removing her paw from Nick's.  
"Can I come in?" A female voice asked.  
Not caring to wait for an answer, the owner of the voice let herself in: it was a beautiful female bunny, around Judy's age, with brown fur and deep blue eyes.

"Hello, you must be Nick! Judy talks about you a lot! I am Katy!" She told him.  
Nick repressed the urge to yell at her for interrupting his moment with Judy, and instead put up a kind smile.

"Nice to meet you, Katy. I'd shake your paw, but…" Nick lifted his wrists a bit to show his restrains.

"Oh, I can fix that." She replied, producing a small key from the pocket of her jeans. "The doctor says you can send you home, as long as you rest."

"Really? That's it?" Nick asked suspicious while Katy began to free him.

"Yeah… they are not too keen on keeping predators around for too long if they can avoid that." She replied with contempt. "Stupid specists."

"You'll also need a new place where to stay!" Judy realized.

"Why?" Nick asked, before catching up. "Oh, of course. Dead mammals don't need houses. I can stay at my mom's place."

"She thinks you are dead as well." Judy retorted. "Probably showing up at her door out of the blue wouldn't be the best idea."

"You're not wrong, Carrots." Nick admitted.

"Well, he could stay at our place for a few days, the couch is comfy after all." Katy said to Judy.

"I don't know…" Judy replied, clearly uneasy after the conversation they had just had.

"Come on, sis. He can sleep on the couch!" Katy retorted.

 _'_ _I like this doe more with every passing second.'_ Nick thought, not daring to express the feeling in front of Judy.

"Fine…" Judy finally agreed.

"Great! Get ready, I'll fetch the paper for your discharge." Katy said, leaving the room.  
She stopped right outside of the door.  
"Oh, the others sends their regards. They had to report to the ARC and couldn't come." She added, then disappeared.

After that, Nick slowly got up from the bed, with Judy helping him out after he had almost fallen from it the first time he had tried to do so by himself.

"Before going home, I have a request." Nick told Judy as he put some clothes Katy had dropped for him.

"Sure, anything you need." The doe replied with no hesitation.

"I must visit a person."

* * *

 **RESTAURANT 'KOSLOV'S PLACE', TUNDRATOWN, 10:30 PM**

Nick opened the door of the car and got out.  
He shivered in the cold air of the night.  
The restaurant had still the same sign of went he had left: seeing that something familiar in a world completely stranger was somewhat relieving for the fox.

He walked down to the door of the closed restaurant: he raised a finger to rang the bell, but all of a sudden all his solace vanished.  
The fox dreaded what he had to do more than any creature.  
Finally, he pushed the doorbell.

He had to wait a few minutes, but finally someone opened the door: a young polar bear greeted him.  
"Hi Morris." Nick said.  
When Nick had last saw him, Morris was as a little taller than Finnick: now, the bear could watch the fox in the eyes.  
"Do you remember me?"

"Yeah, you are Mr. Wilde, on of my father's friend." He replied, looking at Nick suspiciously.  
"What happened to you?"

"Oh, this?" Nick replied, pointing at the bandage on his head. "I'm just going to say one word: ladies."  
Morris chuckled at that, and Nick smiled softly.  
"Morris, I have a message. From you father."

Every trace of smile vanished from the bear's muzzle.  
"I was there when your father…" Nick trailed off, unable to find the strength to say those words.  
But hw knew he had to it: he had promised it to Koslov, and his son deserved it.  
Judy had told him that the ARC had forbidden crossing anomalies after learning what had happened to him and Koslov, so they didn't recover the bears body.

Nick was the only one who could give some sort of closure to Morris.  
He took a deep breath and force himself to went on, looking the bear into the eyes.

"When your father died, I was by his side. He saved my life.  
Before passing away, he asked me to tell you he loved you." Nick managed to say, then braced himself for the bear's reaction.

The fox was expecting Morris to punch him, or at least shut the door in his face.  
Instead, he hug him and began sobbing.  
"Thank you." The bear whispered.

Nick hugged Morris back, and before he knew it, tears began to roll down his own muzzle as well.

* * *

 **NEXT TIME:** as Nick tries to adjust to his new life, an anomaly opens at the Palm Hotel and a thick fog began pouring from it, bring deadly creatures along with it.


	8. Episode 8: The Mist

**EPISODE 8: THE MIST**

 **ARC HQ, 10:00 AM**

Nick let out an impressed whistle, looking at his surrounding: he was standing in the main hub of the Anomaly Research Centre, an ample space, shaped like a dome; its bright lights and white walls gave it a futuristic and aseptic look.

Before reaching the hub, Judy had led him through a long corridor with glass panels as walls, behind which were labs, offices and other rooms.

In the middle of the hub, stood the main Anomaly Detection Device, composed of various screens, each of them showing the map of a different district of Zootopia or a series of numbers and data; one of them was broadcasting a news channel.

All the screen where oriented to face a workstation in the centre of them, consisting in several keyboards and a swivel chair, currently occupied by a red panda.

"I dig it, Red." Nick stated as he got closer to the ADD.

"Professor!" Connor shouted as he literally jumped from the chair and hugged him  
It had been three days since the fox had returned from the Permian, but this was the first time he was able to meet someone from the team except from Judy and Katy: the two sibling had been working hard to convince their boss to let him in the A.R.C., and now he had finally agreed.

Nick patted the head of the red panda, before grabbing his arms and removing them from around his waist.

"I'm happy to see you too." Nick replied.  
He gave Connor a closer look, and noticed that half of his left ear was missing.

Nick had probably been staring at it, since Connor's next words were: "A _postosuchus_ thought it might be fun to nibble on it."

Nick's ears lowered a bit as Judy's words came back to his mind: the years fighting the creatures had really took their toll on the team.

Nick also noticed that Connor as well was wearing the most popular item of clothing for predators: a black collar with a small box attached to it on the right side.  
A tame collar.  
His sadness wad soon replaced by anger as he heard another voice. "Hey Wilde!"

The fox turned around and saw Finnick walking in the room along with Abby; Nick's tame collar began to beep and the light on the small box turned from green to orange as the rage inside him kept growing.

"Nick, are you feeling alright?" Judy, who had been by his side all the time, asked him.

Finnick as well appeared to notice the beeping, halting for a moment, before reprising approaching the red fox.

"I missed you, my fri-" His words were cut off as Nick's fist connected to Finnick's muzzle, sending him to the ground.

Nick too fell to the ground moments after, as his tame collar turned red and a surge of electricity rushed all over his body.

"Worth it..."Nick murmured as soon as his body stopped shacking.

"What was that for?!" Finnick asked outraged, getting back to his feet and rubbing over his left cheek, where Nick had punched him.

 _"What was that for?"_ Nick asked as Judy helped him to regain his footing. "Let me see: knowing that Skye was alive and not telling me for _ten years_ , is a good enough reason for you?" The fox spat angered.

Finnick's eyes widened in surprise as Nick exposed his secret.

"She told me about it right after doing _this,"_ Nick pointed at the side of his skull, where the deep cut caused to him by the vixen was still healing "probably because she thought I was going to die there. She has also told me you two have slept together behind my back, while I was still mourning her death! You should be grateful punching you is all I've done!"

Silence fell into the hub, the only sound being Nick's tame collar, which was beeping once again, menacing to give him another shock.

"Professor Wilde, I'd ask you to calm down, I can't have you drooling on the floor all day: someone could slip on your saliva and hurt his back, and that would require a lot of tedious paperwork."

Nick lifted his head to find the source of the voice on the left side of the hub, where there was a sloping ramp leading to a landing overlooking the room.

There stood a timber wolf, dressed in an extremely expensive suit, with his back straight and the paws clasped behind his back; beside him stood a sheep with a big glasses and the wool on his head styled-up in a shape reminiscent of pom-pom, holding and tapping on a tabled.

"Please, come to my office." The wolf said flatly, turning around and walking through a glass door on the landing.

Nick glared one last time at Finnick, who seemed to find the floor extremely appealing at the moment, before walking with Judy up the ramp and into the wolf's office.

He was waiting for them sitting at a desk, while the sheep stood beside him.

"Please, have a seat." The wolf said gesturing towards two chairs.

Nick and Judy did so.

"I am James Wolfster." The mammal introduced himself. " I was appointed administrator of the Anomaly operation a years and a half ago, when the ARC was founded. In short, it means every decision here has to be approved by me, including our personnel."

Nick studied the wolf: his suit and tie had not a wrinkle, and the fox assumed he was from a wealthy family, judging by his manners and the condescending look he had been giving to everybody around him. But that didn't spare him from wearing a tame collar as well.

"Does it means you are the guy I should give my CV to?" Nick asked, grinning.

"Oh, don't bother: I have no intention to let you work at the ARC." Wolfster replied.  
Nick and Judy were left speechless, their mouth slightly agape.

"Sir, if I may, I think he could actually be a valuable asset to our-" The sheep, who had been silently typing on her tablet until that moment, began.

"Bellwether, please be quiet." Wolfester interrupted her, clearly annoyed. The sheep did as she was told, lowering her gaze back to her tablet.

"I have enough hot heads to deal with as it is" the wolf said, clearly glaring at Judy "and I don't need you to go around and punch other team members. Besides, your records aren't exactly in your favour either: your line of action is reckless, and often has had disastrous consequences."

"I... see." Nick simply replied, baffled, not really able to object to the wolf's claims.

"Wolfster, this is ridiculous! Nick can help us! Please reconsider-" A loud siren interrupted Judy, accompanied by red blinking light.

"What is going on?" Nick asked worried, ears perking up and looking around in confusion, his collar starting to beep.

"The detector picked up an anomaly!" Judy said, jumping from the chair.  
"This conversation isn't over!" She warned Wolfster, before leaving the office.

The wolf sighed. "You had to come back from that anomaly, didn't you?" He rhetorically asked to Nick.

Nick got up from the chair.  
"Well, it _was_ an untouched paradise back there, but seeing that expression of utter annoyance on your face was worth leaving it, _sir._ " He grinned, bowed overdramatically and left the office.

 **'THE PALM' HOTEL, 10:15 AM**

"They are coming." The deer announced to her colleague.

"Well, they've been fast! We've only called them five minutes ago!" The capybara replied, relieved.

During the whole exchange, the two bodyguards hadn't took off their gaze from the ominous, yellowish gas pouring from underneath the door of the closet in the corridor of the 74th floor of the hotel, the same one where their client was currently staying at.

A few seconds later, the fire door leading to the stairs opened, a caribou and a gnu in firefighter garments coming through it.

"Thank you for the timely arrival!" Annabeth welcomed her.

"No problem, ma'am." The gnu answered to the capybara. "So, where is the leak you were referring to?"

"There." Susan pointed to the weird fog.

"Do you smell what I smell?" The gnu asked to the caribou, raising one eyebrow.

"Yeah. Rotten eggs." He replied, confused as well.

"Is that bad?" Susan asked.

"Bad and... unusual." The caribou replied to the deer.

"Please, stand back." The gnu said as he grabbed the handle of the door and putting the gas mask that had been hanging around his neck over his muzzle, the caribou imitating him.

The two bodyguards did as they were told, and took various steps back.

Then, the gnu gave a small nod of his head to his colleague, before opening the door: as he did that, a wall of yellowish mist flooded the hallway, the foul smell from before became ten times stronger.

Annabeth and Susan began coughing, the stench almost strong enough to make her throw up.

"Get out of here!" The gnu said to the two coughing mammals. "You can't breath this air for too long!"

The bodyguards nodded and, with eyes tearing up due to the irritating gas, headed for the room where their client currently was in.

They had almost made to the door when they heard a scream; they turned just in time to see the caribou fall to the ground and being dragged by something inside the fog.

"T-there's something in-" The gnu never got the chance to finish uttering the sentence, as a dark figure, resembling some sort of disgusting tentacle, wrapped around him and made him disappear in the fog.

Shocked and confused by the scene that had just unfolded before their eyes, Annabeth and Susan quickly resumed retreating, entering in the room of their client and promptly locking the door behind them.

"What is going on?" A melodious, female voice asked.

"We-we are in trouble, Miss Gazelle." Annabeth replied, gulping nervously.

 **ARC SUV, HEADING FOR 'THE PALM' HOTEL, 10:20**

The inside of the car was quiet. Awkwardly quiet.

No one had spoken to Finnick since his less than friendly reunion with Nick, as if that hadn't been mortifying enough per se.

He, however, hadn't failed to notice everyone giving him quick glances when they thought he wasn't watching.

And a part of him couldn't really blame them: after all, he had slept with his best friend's wife, who also happened to be considered by the team their greatest foe.

 _'Not had'_ The fennec mentally corrected himself _'You still are.'_

In fact, since Nick disappearing, Skye visits had become more and more frequent, and now she spent almost every night at Finnick's place.

She had never made any more attempts to hinder the team- _'That you are aware of'-_ , actually helping them, providing the blueprints for the EMD from the future: Finnick, of course, had had to tell the team he had come up with the idea on his own, but Skye had been an ally for the team, even if they were oblivious of it.

 _'And what about Nick's claim that she has tried to kill him?'_

 _'Maybe he's just confused, have you seen that cut on his head?'_

 _'She told you she has seen him being torn apart by a Future Predator, but he seemed pretty healthy for someone who had a close encounter with the deadliest creature Mother Nature ever created.'_

 _'Why am I even arguing with myself?'_

Finnick shook his head to dissipate all those doubts: for the moment, he had to be focused on the mission, he would think to all of his other problems later.

A few minutes later the black SUV stopped and the team got out of it: Finnick couldn't help but look up to fully see the imposing building before him.

The Palm Hotel was one of the tallest and most exclusive skyscraper of all Zootopia, located in the Sahara Square district: it's name came from it being shaped, as its name suggested, like a palm tree.

"Damn, we have competition." He heard Katy say, so the fennec turned his attention away from the building, and followed the brown bunny's gaze to the source of her cursing: a fire truck was parked in front of the main entrance, where a couple of firefighters were helping the people evacuate the building.

"No problem, sis. I've got this." Judy said; she was wearing a black neoprene suit, similar to the one she used to wore while working in the ZPD, with metal knee caps, a utility belt and the ARC logo patched on the left shoulder. A Kevlar vest completed her outfit.

Katy wore the same outfit, while Finnick, Abby and Connor preferred to keep their civilian clothing on, mainly because preds were forbidden from having jobs in law enforcement or in the military, and going around wearing those uniforms would rise more than a few questions.

The group walked toward one of the firemammal, a zebra.

"Sir, I need you to tell me everything you know about the current situation and then you and your colleagues will cease all the operation: we will take it from here". Judy said out loud, with such authority that baffled the equine for a good few seconds.

"And who the hell are you,ma'am?" The zebra replied, clearly irritated by Judy's demand.

"Homeland Security." Judy replied, flashing one of her many badges: when the ARC had been founded, Wolfster had managed to obtain a badge of most of the agency operating in the city of Zootopia, so whenever they had needed to get somewhere restricted, Judy had had simply to show one of them.

The zebra's eyes widened upon seeing the badge. "You mean... This is the work of terrorists?!"

"We cannot rule out that possibility." Judy replied vaguely: she had to be careful not to confirm nor deny anything, as that might create problems when it came to what witnesses might tell to the press.  
Finnick chuckled inside, musing on how much the doe had changed in the past years: when he had first met her, she wouldn't even borrow a pen without asking for permission; now, she could lie with a straight face about a possible terrorist attack.

"And... What about _them_?" The firefighter asked, moving his gaze on Finnick, Abby and Connor.

"They are our most competent experts; don't worry, they'll be collared all the time." She replied, once again not giving away any more details than the ones required for them to get in.  
"Now, what's the situation inside?"

"We received a call about a gas leak on the 74th floor. Two of my men went to investigate ten minutes ago, but never reported back. Since then, this fog-like gas has spread to the two floor beneath. We managed to evacuate all the other floors, and we were about to send a team to find out what has happened to my mammals and rescue the civilian trapped on the remaining floors." The zebra filled them in.

"What can you tell me about this gas?" Judy inquired.

"From the smell, I can tell you an high percentage of it it's sulphur. I'd advise full-muzzle gas masks." The firemammal explained.

"Thank you very much for the cooperation. Make sure the evacuated civilians are fine, we'll take care of the rest." Judy replied with formal courtesy.

The zebra nodded, and started to leave, then turned back again toward the team. "One last thing, ma'am. Bring my mammals out of there."

At those words, Judy's detached and professional facade broke for a moment.  
"I'll do all what's in my power to save every last mammal still in that building." She said with a kind smile.

The zebra nodded, somewhat relieved, then joined the other firefighters to take care of the civilians.

Judy turned to face the team, her eyes once again filled with resolve.  
"Okay, we have three floors to swipe: Abby, Connor and Katy, you take the 74th floor; Finnick and I will take care of the 73rd-"

"Wait, what? What about the 72nd?" Finnick asked, confused.

"Hemple and other soldiers will take care of it." Judy cut short.

"Why? He doesn't have my experience with creatures, let me go with him and take some soldiers with you instead! You don't need me, he does!" Finnick protested.

"I want to keep an eye on you." She replied.

The short fox frowned, confused at that statement, then he realized.  
"Wait, is this happening because of what Nick said?"

"Can you blame me?" Judy asked.

Finnick stayed quite for a few seconds, before sighing. "I guess not..." He mumbled.

"Then the question is settled. Abby, call Hemple, tell him we're going to need gas masks and some backup."

Judy walked over to the car, where she had left Nick; the fox was still there, waiting slumped in the backseat. As soon as he noticed she was approaching, he straightened, a spark of hope in his eyes.

"No, Nick, I haven't changed my mind." She said apologetic, anticipating the fox's question. "I won't bring you along. If you want to get a shot at being part of the ARC, the last thing you should do is disobeying Wolfster and clandestinely join the mission."

"Fine." He replied crossing his arms and frowning.

Judy rolled her eyes at the over exaggerated reaction of the fox. "Quit it, Slick."

"You got me, Carrots." He chuckled. "So, if you are not here to lift my benching, what did you want from me then?"

"The firefighters described a yellowish fog made up of sulphur. Any suggestion on when this anomaly has opened to?"

She observed as Nick mused on the description for a moment, before answering. "I'd say you got lucky. That mist fits the description of the Precambrian atmosphere: sure, that's toxic, but at least you shouldn't meet any hostile creature. It's a period so back in time that the most complex traces of life have bacterial origins. Maybe something more complex as you approach the end of the period, but still not bigger than a few millimetres."

"That's what Katy said as well." Judy replied.

"Then why those soldiers?" Nick asked her, pointing at a half-dozen of ARC armed mammals.

"I've learnt to always expect the worse, in these years." She explained, only half-joking, but she regretted her poor choice of words when Nick flinched upon hearing 'years.  
The time gap was still a sensitive issue for the fox.

"Well... Good luck then." Nick said, giving her a half-hearted smile.

"Thanks. And don't do anything dumb while I'm gone!" Judy warned him over her shoulder while walking away from the car.  
The doe joined the rest of the team, who were debriefing with an antelope: he was Jake Hemple, ARC head of security.

"Have you been filled in, Hemple?"

"Yes, ma'am." He replied, and then handed Judy a bunny-sized gas mask and EMD.

"Then let's not waste any more time." She said as she wore the mask and walked in the hall.

 **'THE PALM' HOTEL, 74TH FLOOR, ROOM 748, 10:40 AM**

Gazelle nervously looked at the door: her two bodyguards had used wet towels to close the slit under the door, preventing the fog from coming in.

The popstar tried to use her smartphone once again, but the screen was still glitching and not responding to her touch. Annabeth had told her before that it was probably due to some kind of magnetic field.

"Don't worry." Susan told her "I'm sure someone is trying to come an d rescue us right now."  
And yet, Gazelle could see the fear in her eyes: her two bodyguards had seen something that had scared them, a lot.

"I'm sure you are right" Gazelle replied with a smile, not wanting to increase Susan's worries.

She turned to the window and watched below: the fire truck was still there, but it was impossible from that height to tell what was going on down there.

"I hope you are right..." She whispered.

 **'THE PALM' HOTEL, STAIRWELL, 10:45 AM**

Katy stopped on the landing of the 72nd floor as her sister raised a fist to warn the team to halt. On their way up, they had noticed that the fog had spread as far as the 69th floor, but those ones had already been evacuated, so they had stuck to their original plan.

"Okay Hemple, this is your stop. Remember, keep the comm always on, understood?" Judy told him, her voice muffled by the gas mask.

"Yes ma'am, don't worry. I've handled worse than a prehistoric fart." He joked with a laugh, but it died almost immediately at the dead-serious glare Judy gave him.

Katy knew why Judy was being so hard on him: they had began to employ military personnel only recently, and this would mark the first time Hemple would lead a team on his own.

"Okay then, go!" She nodded, and opened the door, letting the antelope and three more soldier enter in the hallway flooded by the gas: the mist was so thick they disappeared from their view a few meters in.

Katy watched as Judy kept staring at the fog, and walked to her, placing a paw on her shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. There are other people who need our help."

Judy nodded and closed the fire doors: those were the only reason the mist hadn't spread to the stairs as well, so they had opted to use them instead of the elevator, which opened in the middle of each floor.

"I hate stairs..." The brown bunny heard Connor grumble as they resumed the climbing.

They stopped again at the next floor, where it was Judy's and Finnick's turn to dive in the mist.

"Good luck, sis." Judy told Katy before vanishing into the fog, Finnick right behind her, with their EMD raised before them.

"Okay guys" she said to Abby and Connor "let's get moving."

The three mammals reached the 74th floor and opened the door, once again welcomed by the yellowish gas.

"Are we sure these are working?" Connor asked, tapping on the the mask covering the entirety of his muzzle.

"If they won't we'll know." Katy replied, winking playfully, before diving into the fog. Once in it, she could barely make out the sides of the hallway, so was the thickness of it.

"Stay close." The doe barked, putting aside her previous good cheer.

The three mammals tentatively walked through the mist, looking out for doors or mammals that might need their help.

A sudden thud and a groan coming from her back starled Katy, who quickly turned around only to see Connor had tripped on something and was now laying flat on the floor.

"Sometimes, I wonder how you managed not to get killed in these past years." Abby commented, rolling her eyes at Connor's clumsiness.

"Har har, it's not my fault if mammals leave their... arm..." Connor's eyes went wide as he realized he had stumbled on what used to be a bovine's upper limb, before it being tore from its owner's shoulder.

"Uuuhh... This doesn't look like the work of bacteria to me." Abby said, as Connor quickly got up and threw away the severed arm.

The three mammals raised their EMD, ready to fire.

"Judy, do you copy?" Katy said with a whisper, pressing a button on the side of the mask to activate the build-in microphone.

 _"Yeah, something's wrong?"_ Judy replied.

"I think we just found what's left of the firefighter, judging by the shred of uniform left on the remains." Katy replied, her eyes darting around, trying to spot any sign of movement through the fog.

 _"You mean we have a confirmed incursion?!"_ Finnick asked, joining the conversation.

"I'm afraid so." Abby confirmed.

 _"Any idea what we are facing this time?"_ Hemple cut in.

"No; according to the fossil records, there weren't lifeforms big or complex enough to be harmful to us, so I can't tell what did this." Katy said.

 _"Okay, than be careful."_ Judy warned, before going quiet.

Katy signed to Connor and Abby to follow her as she moved forward, eyes wide open and ears tensed to catch any hint of an approaching creature.

The trio kept opening door after door, but the floor seemed to have been empty at the time of the anomaly's opening, and Katy was thankful for that.

They were halfway through the floor, when Abby first caught a glimpse of a creature

"There!" She warned them, pointing her EMD toward a spot on her left and firing.

"Did you hit it?" Katy asked when she stopped firing.

"I'm pretty sure I did, yes." She nodded.

The three mammals slowly walked to where Abby had seen the creature, but they found nothing, except for a painting that had been half burned by the electric bolts of the EMD.

"Are you sure there was something here?" Katy asked

"I'm sure, I tell you there was something and I've hit it." The otter insisted.

"Okay, then it must be close, stay on guard." Katy replied.  
The bunny turned to resume their research, when something emerged from the mist, lunging at her.  
She quickly jumped sideway, dodging the attack, only for a second creature to try to strike her again: she rolled backward, avoiding the attack only by a few inches.

She aimed her EMD at the creature and fired two electric bolts, hitting the thing squarely, but it was unaffected by the hits, and instead tried to bite her again.  
She backed up, regrouping with Abby and Connor, who were having their own share of troubles handling three more of the creatures emerging from the fog.

Only at that point, her brain managed to register what had attacked them: they were worms.  
Fat, disgusting worms, long twice her height and covered in mucilage; from their mouth, a retractile proboscis came shooting out like the tongue of a snake. The appendage ended with a sucker-shaped opening, filled with teeth.

"The EMD don't work on them!" Abby shouted.

"I've noticed that!" Katy replied, while the three mammals ran out of space for backing up, bumping with their back against the wall, as more worms closed in.

"What do we do now?" Connor asked, panic filling his voice.

Katy tried to think back to what Judy ad taught her, as she always did when she felt lost.  
 _"Rule number one to win a fight: use your opponents weaknesses against them. Trust me, that way, I once knocked out rhino!"_

The doe forced herself to look closely at the revolting creatures before her, as they slowly crawled toward her, trying to find out any weak spot she could exploit to get out of that situation.

She looked for any sensitive area that might cause huge pain when hit, but couldn't spot them, not even eyes.  
 _'Wait, that's it! They're blind!'_ She realized, and a plan took shape in her head to get them out that hallway alive.  
Well, at least some of them.

"Stay quiet, and wait until the way is clear, then head for the door we came in." Katy told Abby and Connor, then she jumped between two of the worms that where cornering them, dashing for the far end of the corridor, screaming on top of her lungs to get the attention of the crawling creatures.  
As she had planned, all the worms turned toward the new source of noise, completely ignoring Abby and Connor.

Now, she only needed to get to the other side of the hallway, which was easier said than done: worms kept coming out from the mist, trying to turn her into their lunch.  
She kept diving and dodging the assaults, until she missed one of the worms' proboscis wrapping around her left arm and suddenly yanking her back.

With a yelp, Katy fell backwards, but she quickly recovered, and pulled her arm back, tearing the mushy appendage away from its owner.  
By the time she got up, however, the worms had already surrounded her, this time leaving her no room to escape, climbing one on top of the other, trying to get to their prey first, squeezing their meaty body with revolting sounds.  
She turned around, and saw that behind her there was a closed door, but it was locked.  
She tried to break it down pushing her shoulder against it a couple of times, but the wood didn't give in.

"What a gross way to die..." Katy said out aloud, turning to face the wall of worms now only a few centimeters away from the brown bunny.  
Thanks to her fine hearing, she heard the fire door closing, which meant Connor and Abby made it out, and that managed to bring a smile on her muzzle.

Katy took a fighting stance: she wasn't going to die so easily.  
She was ready to punch the first worm, when the door behind her was unlocked and two sets of paws grabbed her and dragged her into the room, closing the door behind her once she was inside.

 **'THE PALM' HOTEL, MAIN HALL, 11:00 AM**

Nick's head peeked from behind the reception desk, scanning the huge hall.  
Two ARC soldier, a ram and a kangaroo, were guarding the entrance to the stairwell, and he doubted they would have let him pass through.

While stuck waiting in the car, Nick had managed to find a walkie-talkie and tune it to pick up the team's conversation.  
When he had heard the conversation about the confirmed incursion, he had decided he wasn't going to just sit there while the other risked their life.  
So he had sneaked inside the fire truck and had managed to find a gas mask made for small canids like himself and to enter in the hotel without anyone noticing him.

So now he was trying to figure out what to do next, when the walkie-talkie came to life with Connor's and Abby's voice.

 _"KATY! ARE YOU OKAY?!"  
"PLEASE ANSWER!"_

Nick tried to cover the speaker of the device with a paw, in order to muffle the voices, but it was too late.

"Doug, take the left side, I'll take the right one." Nick heard the kangaroo say to the ram, as the two soldier began to get close to his position.

 _"Yes, I'm fine, even if I'm stuck in the room 748 at the moment."_ Meanwhile, the conversation kept going. _"There are three civilians with me as well: fortunately Gazelle decided to book the whole floor in order to avoid being disturbed, so-"_

 _"Wait, Gazelle?"_ Judy's voice interrupted.

 _"Yes, Gazelle. She also said that her dancers might be stuck on your floor, sis. Room 737."_

Nick was barely listening, however, trying to maintain enough calm to avoid being zapped by his collar while also beating his brain in the attempt to figure a way to avoid getting caught by the approaching soldiers.

He could try to make a run for the elevator, but they would definitely catch before he got there, unless he found a way to distract them.

 _"The things in the mist, they are some sort of giant, carnivorous worms. They are immune to the EMD, so be..."_

Nick stared at the walkie-talkie, as a stupid plan formed in his mind.

"Better than no plan..." he groaned, getting ready to sprint for the lift.

"GRANADE!" He shouted, throwing the walkie-talkie toward the two soldiers while also dashing across the hall. Caught by surprise, the two mammals dived for the nearest cover.

When no explosion occurred, they peeked out from behind their shelter, only to see the door of the elevator closing with a 'ding!'.

Inside it, Nick pressed the button for the 72nd floor, as he recalled hearing Judy mentioning the floor over the walkie-talkie, and slumped against the wall of the cabin, sighing in relief.

"I've outsmarted those two, how hard can be taking care of a few earthworms?" He chuckled, while putting on the gas mask.

 **'THE PALM' HOTEL, 73rd FLOOR, 11:15 AM**

"I HATE these bastards!" Finnick said, hitting one of the worms with the handle of his EMD.

Since the electric bolts appeared to have no effect on the creatures, he had started to use the rifle as a bat, holding it by the barrel and beating the worms with its butt.

"Well, at least you can check "worms" off the list of things that tried to kill you!" Judy said, as she bounced off a wall and kicking a second worm with her powerful legs.

"Well, if you put it that way..." He sarcastically replied while beating another worm into pulp.

They kept making their way through the creatures for a few more meters, finally reaching the room 737.

"If anyone's in there, open up!" Judy said, banging on the door.  
"Hurry, please!" She added, as the giant creepy crawlers began to surround the bunny and the fennec.

Finnick heard something being dragged away from the other side of the door, then it was quickly opened.  
He and Judy jumped right in, and the door was promptly closed behind them, and a couch was put against it as a barricade.

Finnick looked around the room and, seeing that the fog hadn't followed them in, he removed the gas mask and sighed at the relief of finally being free from that oppressing thing.

"Who are you guys?" One of three beefy tiger asked.

Finn was about to answer, when he noticed a overweight cheetah in a corner of the room, quite out of place among the other fit felines.

"Ben?!" Judy exclaimed, when she as well noticed the fat cat.

"Judy?" He asked, surprised as well. His confused frown turned immediately into a huge smile, as he walked across the room and picked up the doe, squeezing her into a bear hug. "I'm so happy to see you! It's been more than a year since I've last seen you! How are you?" He enthusiastically said.

Judy tried to answer, but the hug was so tight she could barely breathe, and Finnick was sure the cheetah would have unintentionally killed the bunny, if one of the tigers hadn't intervened.

"Ben, I think you should put her down, now." He chuckled, putting a paw on Clawhauser's shoulder.

"Oh, right, sorry." He agreed, gently putting her back on the floor.

"It's... Nice to see you too, Ben" Judy replied panting, but with a smile.  
She removed her gas mask as well.  
"But what are you doing here?"

"I was visiting Anthony, my boyfriend, when these weird gas began to spread." He explained, pointing at the tiger who had just saved Judy from being hugged to death.

"That's right. One of us, Mark, tried to go find some help, but... We only heard his screams." He said, sadness in his voice.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Judy replied sincerely.

The four felines thanked her, then Ben spoke again: "And what are _you_ doing here?"

"We are here to rescue you lot and take care of those things out there." Finnick replied.

"Oh, I see. So you've left the ZPD, but you still save people, right?" Ben asked to Judy.

"What can I say? It must be my calling." She replied with a smile, blushing a little.  
"How's everyone back at Precinct One?"

"Everyone's fine: Bogo is still the usual grumpy buffalo. To be honest, I think he never accepted the fact that you left." The feline told her.

Judy was about to say something back, but Finnick cut in. "Can we postpone the chit-chat to after we are out of this place?"

"Right." Judy nodded. "So, now..."

 _"Hey sis."_ Katy's voice came in from their earpiece.

"What's up, Katy?" The grey doe asked, speaking into her mask's mic.

 _"Are you inside the room?"_

"Yes, why?"

 _"You should turn on the TV on the ZNN."_ Katy cryptically said, with a voice that sounded both amused and worried at the same time.

Judy looked at Finnick confused, and he simply shrugged, grabbing the slighlty too big remote from the nearby couch and turning on a flat TV on the far side of the room.  
The television was already on the ZNN channel; it was broadcasting a live feed of the exterior of The Palm, with the cameraman doing his best to zoom in on a surreal scene: a fox in a familiar green shirt was dangling outside of a broken window on one of the top floors of the hotel, the 72nd according to the anchormammal, who was holding on to what looked like a rope made of sheets and curtains.

"What the hell?!" Finnick said. "Is that really Nick?! What is he doing there?"

"Not following the orders." Judy growled.  
"Okay, here's the plan." The doe said, putting back on her gas mask. "Abby, Connor, do you copy?"

 _"Yes"_ They replied at once.

"You two must find a way to get these mammals to safety without walking through the mist."

 _"That sounds easy."_ Connor sarcastically snorted.

"I know you'll come up with something. Katy, Finn, stay in the rooms and protect the civilians. I'll go rescue Nick."

"Are you seriously going to let me here to puppysitti..." Finnick's protest died out as soon as Judy gave him a fierce death glare.

"I'm already mad at one fox right now, do you want to join him on the list?" She growled, menacingly pointing her finger at him.

"Okay, I'll do as you said." Finnick said, raising his paws.

"Good. Now, remove that couch from the door, then put it back when I'm out." Judy told to the three tigers.  
They immediately complied, and in a matter of seconds Judy disappeared outside the door.

"Is she going to be fine all by herself?" Anthony asked to Finn and Ben.

"Without a doubt, she can take care of herself." Ben replied.

"Yeah." Finnick agreed. "I'd be more concerned for anything that gets between her and that fox."

 **'THE PALM' HOTEL, ROOFTOP, 11:20 AM**

Abby raised her paw to shield her eyes from the bright light of the sun as she opened the door leading outside.  
When her sight adjusted to the new luminous space, she found herself staring at what was know as the Eden: the top of the hotel was in fact a huge garden, with exotic and colorful plants thriving in every corner of it.

The otter couldn't help but let a soft "Woah!" of amazement at the beauty of it.

"Well, I'll admit that it's really impressive, but why are we here?" Connor asked her.

While trying to figure out a way to get Katy, Finn and everyone else to safety, Abby had remember of an article she had read about the Eden, and she had a light-bulb moment.  
"We need to find the tool shed, or wherever they keep the gardening tools." She said, and the two began searching, quickly finding it.

Connor tried to open the door, which had been left open, probably because the gardeners had been evacuated before having any chance to lock it.

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Connor asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"We are looking for those." Abby said proudly with a smile, pointing at something inside the shed.

When Connor saw what the otter was pointing at, he smiled as well.  
"Brilliant!"

 **'THE PALM' HOTEL, 11:30 AM**

The wind was whistling in his ears, but he was pretty sure that wasn't the reason he was shaking: instead, Nick was far more keen to blame the fact that the only things preventing him from falling from hundreds of meters high was a pawmade rope he had crafted in under five minutes knotting together a bunch of sheets and curtains.

He had tried to break the glass of the window he was currently dangling in front of kicking it, but to no avail.  
Going back up wasn't an option either, as the yellowish fog pouring from the edge of the broken window above him reminded him.  
"Well, this isn't going hoe I'd imagined it."

Nick was about to try to crash through the window once again, when a sudden tug pulled the rope up, almost making him lose his grip on it.  
 _'Those things learned how to play tug-of-war ?!'_ He thought, as the cord was pulled up more and more.  
Only when he heard a familiar voice grunting and mumbling something about a dumb fox, he realized what was going one, and the idea of facing her scared Nick even more than the alternative of fighting one of those worms.

In less the a minute, Nick found himself being dragged by the collar of his shirt back into the hotel room, an extremely mad bunny staring at him,

"Thanks for the saving, Carr-OUCH!" Nick barely had the time to get back to his feet before a punch hit him on his left arm.

"What happened to STAYING IN THE DAMN CAR?!" Judy said, jabbing her finger on his chest.

"What happened to _you_?" Nick asked back, slightly disgusted: the doe was cover from head to toe in a green, slimy gunk.

"I'm the one doing questions here, and I better like them, or I'll hurt you aga- Wait! I've hurt you!" She realized.

"Yeah, you did, Carrots. You really know how to pack a punch." Nick lamented, massaging his aching arm.

"No, I mean, that sudden emotion should have triggered your collar! Why didn't that happen?" Judy explained.

"You seem really disappointed that I didn't just got zapped." Nick said, before crouching down to show and moving the collar of his shirt to let Judy have a clear view of his neck: it was covered with a translucent, slime-like substance.

"Is that...?"

"Worm mucus? Yes, yes it is." Nick replied. "I've heard you guys talking over the comm saying that these creatures were unaffected by the EMDs, so I realized they had to be covered in something that worked as insulation, and I was right." He explained smugly.

"So I coated my neck with this disgusting thing to avoid being fried by this lovely thing while fighting prehistoric mammal-eating worms. Seriously, how do the other managed to do this job with the collars on?"

"They don't! Connor has hacked the collars, so they don't have to worry about them!" Judy explained to him, exasperated. "But basically no one, not even Bellwether knows it! She is a good mammal, but we cannot afford her accidentally let it slip that to the mayor!"

"Well, that makes sense." Nick replied.

"Yeah, we know what we are doing, but looks like the same can't be told about you! Will you please tell me what were you doing dangling outside of a _window?!"_

"I was enjoying the view, of course!" He joked.

"Nick..." Judy growled.

"Okay fine, I'll cut the jokes and tell you everything. So, I managed to slip past the two soldiers in the hall, who aren't too bright, I might add, and I took the elevator to this floor. Once here, I found myself surrounded by mist and the bodies of your soldiers and the ones of those worms." He began to tell her.

"What bodies?" Judy said, suddenly switch from mad to worried.

"Don't worry, they are not dead, even if they have some severe wounds: one of them, an antelope, has had his legs chomped off, but I made him a tourniquet. I've helped them all move in the room next to this one." Nick reassured her.

"After doing that, I resumed looking for more mammals in need, thinking that the soldiers had managed to eliminate all the worms, but I was wrong. I found myself in the middle of half a dozen of them, so I run in here, but they managed to follow me in.  
So I did the only thing I could think of: I was out of escape route, and I made one. I broke the window with a chair and climbed outside with that rope, barely avoiding turning into a snack for worm."

Judy listened to Nick's story, paws on her hips. Then she sighed.

"I must say... I'm impressed, Slick" A smile appeared on her muzzle.

"Thank you, ma'am" He replied smugly.

"But you are still in trouble." Judy warned him.

"I was counting on it." He said wiggling his eyebrow, at which Judy rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"So, will you tell me why you look like you just got your ass handed at the grossest game of paintball?"

"Well, I had to fight off more than a few of those worms to get here, and one of them caught me by surprise and..." She trailed off, shivering at the memory. " If you think those things are ugly on the outside, you have no idea what they look like from the inside."

At those words, Nick's eyes went wide. "You mean, you've been..."

"I don't want to talk about what was, without a doubt, the most nauseating experience of my whole life." She cut it short. "Now let's get out of here."

 **'THE PALM' HOTEL, 74th FLOOR, ROOM 748, 11:32 AM**

Katy was getting more and more nervous.  
She had been stuck in that room for half an hour now, and the last thing she had heard from the rest of the team were Judy's orders.

She, Gazelle and her two bodyguards had watched on TV as Nick was pulled in from the broken window, presumably by Judy.

Katy's ears perked up as a new noise suddenly appeared in the background.

"Turn off the volume!" She urged to the capybara, who immediately did so.

The doe then closed her eyes to focus on the noise: it came from outside the room, and resembled the whirring sound of a fur dryer, but... bigger.

The sound grew in intensity as it's source closed in, until it stopped right in front of their door. "Katy, are you in there?" Abby's voice asked.

"Yes, we're here. I was beginning to fear that you two got lost." The doe replied snarky.

"Okay, you can come out then." Connor said.  
Katy unlocked the door and cautiously opened it, and when she saw the source of the noise, she couldn't help but smile; Connor and Abby where holding a leaf blower each: thanks to them, the two mammals had managed to create a spot clear of fog around them.  
A few worms were trying to get to them, but retreated immediately as their body exited the Precambrian atmosphere, outside of which they couldn't breathe.

"You guys are geniuses!" Katy said, as he joined them in the middle of the hallway, followed by Gazelle, Annabeth and Susan.

"Abby is the one who should get the credit, she got the idea." Connor explained.

"Well, he has come up with an idea to get rid of the gas permanently on our way here." She countered, blushing a little at Connor's compliment.

"What?! Really?! Why didn't you tell us?" Katy asked.

"Well, it's hard to activate the speaker while holding on of these." Connor said, nodding at the leaf blower in his paw.

"Okay, give me that, so you can tell inform the others about the plan." The doe replied, taking the leaf blowers from the red panda.  
Connor then pressed the button to the side of his gas mask to activate the mic, and began to speak.  
"Judy, can you hear me?"

 _"Yeah, I'm with Nick right now. Have you found a way to rescue the others?"_

"Yep, we are evacuating the 74th floor right now, we'll get to the 73rd next."

 _"Great, I was beginning to fear you two-"_

"That we got lost, yeah, already heard that one." Connor cut Finnick off.

 _"Okay, then come here at the 72nd floor, we need to get out Hemple and his mammals, they are in a really bad shape."_

"Okay, but first we'll head to the 70th floor." Connor said.

 _"And why?"_ Judy asked.

"That floor is where the server room that controls the air conditioning of the building: if we turn up the heat, the air will expand and push the fog out from the vent system, killing all the worms, since they cannot breathe our atmosphere." The red panda explained.  
There were a few moment of silence, as if the doe was musing on what Connor had just told them.

 _"Okay, Nick and I are heading there. You and the others keep evacuating the civilians."_ Judy told him.

"Cop that, good luck." Connor replied.

"You heard the boss, we have mammals to rescue." Katy said, and with that, the group slowly began to move toward the exit, making sure that everyone was always inside the 'bubble' of clean air.  
They were half way through, when one of the worms lashed out its proboscis and managed to wrap it around Gazelle legs.

With a scream, the singer fell to the floor, breaking one of her horns in the process.  
The capybara and the deer both came to her aid, grabbing her by the arms and tugging her away from the creature, but Annabeth got bitten by a second one in the process.

Katy could only watch as Connor tried to remove the toothed mouth of the worm from the capybara's shoulder: if she or Abby moved, they might expose them more to the fog.  
When the bodyguard was about to get dragged inside the mist, Gazelle got up and picked up her broken horn, using it to stab the worm, which let Annabeth go and dropped to the ground dead.

"Didn't see that coming." Katy commented, baffled.

"We popstar have to deal with crazy fans, it's good to know the basis of self defense." She shrugged, as she and Connor helped Annabeth back to her feet. "Now, can we please get out from this nightmare?"

 **'THE PALM' HOTEL, VENTILATION SHAFTS, 11:45 AM**

Judy was crawling behind Nick, when his fluffy tail hit her in the face.

"Would you please be more careful?!" Judy growled, more angry at herself for finding that tail stupidly enticing than at Nick.

"Sorry Carrots. We're almost there, anyway." Nick apologized, even if she heard a clearly amused note in his voice.

She was about to ask him if he had done it on purpose, but decided against it, not wanting to give him that satisfaction.

They had decided to use the shafts to reach the 70th floor hoping they would not find any worm on their way. The space was small and hot, so now the doe was covered in sweat, in addition to worms drool.

"Okay, we are on the right floor." Nick announced, as the slope they had been crawling in ended, and the shaft returned to an horizontal level. "If I recall the emergency floor plan right, we'll have to go left and then..." Nick trailed off after the first turn. Judy peeked from behind him to see why, and groaned in annoyance: a worm was blocking their path.

"Of course. That's how they moved from floor to floor." She whispered, mentally scolding herself for not figuring that sooner.

"No problem, Fluff. Just back up and I think we should still be able to reach the server room. We'll just have to take the long way around." Nick whispered back.

Judy began to do that, but stopped when he glanced over her shoulder.

"We can't go back, another worm is coming our way!"

"Our usual luck, right?" Nick said, and Judy could basically hear his eye roll.

"Yeah, looks like our trip in the shafts is over." Judy agreed, and then kicked an air vent on the side of the shaft, then jumped outside, landing perfectly, followed by Nick, who instead tumbled on the ground

"I'm fine, I'm fine." He quickly got back on his feet, clearing his throat in embarrassment.  
Judy chuckled before noticing that the hallway they were in was completely invaded by worms.

"How are we going to-AAARGH!" Nick fell to the ground in convulsion, as his collar activated and zapped him.

Judy knelt beside him and looked at his neck: Nick's fur was coated by sweat, which had washed away the layer of insulating mucus, so now the collar was again effective.  
Meanwhile, the worms began to close in, lured by the commotion, with the only results of increasing Nick's panic.

"Nick, hey Nick, look at me." She said in a calm, soothing voice.  
She gabbed the sides of his gas mask and put the window of it against her own.

"Focus on my voice, okay? Do you trust me?" She asked him.  
He began to calm down, and the collar stopped electrocuting him, but it was still glowing bright orange.

"I won't let not even one of those things to get to you, but you need to calm down and stay close to me, okay?"

Nick nodded, and the doe helped him to get back up on unsteady legs.  
"Lead the way, Carrots." He weakly smiled.

Judy smiled back, than turned to face the worms.  
"You wanted to know how did I get through all of those thing before? This is how." She said to Nick over her shoulder with a confident smirk.  
She grabbed to cylinders from the sides of her belt, one in each paw: when she flicked her wrists, the two object extended, revealing to be two retractable batons.

The doe dashed forward, charging the two nearest worms: she joined her paws together and with one swing she hit the two creature with enough strength to cut through their soft flesh.  
She continued to run towards the wall in front of her, running on it before doing a backflip, landing with both batons on the middle of a third worm, cutting it in half; she then jumped and hit another creature with a roundhouse kick, smashing its head against the wall.o

"Now it's my turn to be impressed!" Judy heard Nick say.  
She kept moving forward, mowing down worm after worm, quickly jumping and dodging their attacks, while hers not once missed their target, until they got in front of the server room.

"Go in and heat things up, I'll keep the worms out." Judy told Nick, and so he did.  
She deflected one of the worms' proboscis with a baton and hen proceeded to end its owner with the other one; two more worms encountered the same fate, before she began to feel the degrees starting to rise in the hallway, and the fog starting to dissipate, exposing the worms to the toxic atmosphere of the 21st century.

 _"I'm guessing Connor's plan worked, right?"_ Katy asked over the comm.

"Yup, that it did." Judy replied as she watched the creatures slowly suffocating, while Nick came out of the server room.

"I thought it was going to be much harder, but I had had to turn a dial on 'hot'." He explained her, then she stared at her.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing, it's just... two years ago, you wouldn't have been able to watch something die without even flinching a bit." Nick said, looking at the worms gasping for air.

"I've seen many terrible things, things that have changed me." She said saddened, lowering her gaze.

"I don't think you've changed that much." Nick replied, smiling at her.

"You do?"

"Back then, when the collar was zapping me, I saw the same caring mammals I met in the Forest of Dean: maybe you've just become better at hiding her." He put his paw on her shoulder, squeezing lightly, to comfort her.

"Maybe I just need someone who can bring her out." She said, reaching the paw on his shoulder and squeezing it with her own.  
She immediately let go, however, as soon as she realized what she was doing.  
 _'Stop it, you dumb bunny! There's a reason you've become so good at hiding that side of you!'_

Nick was about to add something, but was interrupted by a loud POP!, followed by him and Judy being invested by a wave of green gunk. _  
_Judy slowly cleaned the window of her mask with her sleeve.  
Her mouth opened and closed several time, the doe too baffled from what had just happened to being able to put a sentence together.  
"Did- did that worm just exploded?" She finally managed to say out loud, as if her brain was still refusing to process that something like that had ended their conversation.

A second popping sound, and another wave of slime covered them.  
"Yup. I think it might be the side effect of overheating them." Nick replied.

"This is going to take a week of showers to get it out of my fur." Judy groaned, as a third worm exploded, and more muck washed over the two mammals.

 **ARC HQ, WOLFSTER'S OFFICE, 3:30 PM**

Nick found himself sitting in the wolf's office for the second time that time; like the first time, Judy was sitting next to him.

Wolfster was pacing back and forth before them, while Bellwether was typing something on her iPaw: Judy had explained him that the sheep always kept the mayor informed on what was going on at the ARC through it.,

"So, let me recap all of your exploits: you followed the team to the site of an incursion, despite no longer being a part of the team; you stole a property of the Zootopia Fire Department; you disobeyed the team leader's order by entering in the incursion site, after she had expressly told you not to and, in doing so, you almost exposed our agency by dangling outside of a window in broad daylight, being filmed by not only hundreds of witnesses, but also by the local TV news service." Wolfster stopped, bending over to stare at Nick in the eyes. "That is enough to put you in a cell for the rest of your life and throw the key away."

Nick just gulped nervously in response to that threat: the wolf looked dead serious on the idea of getting him arrested.

Wolfster sighed and straightened, clasping his paws behind his back.  
"However, I've spoken to Hemple when he was recovered to the hospital: he won't be working with us anymore due to the loss of his leg, but he highly praised your bravery and said that if his squad had had you with them from the beginning, maybe things might have gone differently. That, and Bellwether insistence on keeping you with us as the world leading, and I might add only, expert on the anomalies, convinced me to let you in our team."

The timber wolf snapped his fingers, and Bellwether suddenly took her eyes off the tablet and began searching for something in the pockets of her jacket, until she found it.  
"Welcome to the ARC!" The sheep gave Nick a shy smile, while handing him a badge of the agency with his name and picture on it.

Nick's muzzle light up, his smile going from ear to ear.  
"Thank you, sir. I won't disappoint you!" He said with a wink of his eye.

"I'm already regretting this." The wolf deadpanned.

Bellwether tablet began to rung, and upon seeing the name of the one doing the call, she excused herself out of the room.  
"City Hall is calling!"

Nick waited for her to leave, then spoke again.  
"So, when can I have my collar de-activated?" He asked hopeful.

"Not anytime soon, I'm afraid." Wolfster replied, this time looking sincerely sorry.

"What?! Why?" Nick happiness was replaced by disappointment.

"You have just arrived, which means Bellwether, and the mayor by extension, will keep a very vigilant eye on you. And we can't let City Hall figure out our little secret. I know how hard it is-"

"NO, YOU DON'T!" Nick shouted, his collar beeping and starting to glow orange.

"Nick, you should..." Judy tried to intervene.

" 'I should' what, Carrots? He doesn't want to help me because he doesn't like me! This hypocrite works side by side to Bellwether in this office, and yet he gets to have his collar..." Nick trailed off, as he noticed his wasn't the only collar beeping in the room.

"I'll let it pass this time, because you are new to all of this." Wolfster said slowly, as his clooar switched back to green.  
"As you've said, I work in this office, I don't have to face the dangers the Connor, Abby or Finnick have to, so there's no need for my collar to be deactivated, as it would only increase the chance of them being caught with their collar turned off. I do care about this team, Mr. Wilde, whether you believe it or not."

"I... I apologize." Nick slowly said.

"I have the feeling I'll heard this words really often from you. You can go now." Wolfster replied, turning his back at them.

Judy and Nick got out of their chairs and left Wolfster's office.  
"Well, that went well." Judy said, eye rolling.

"Yeah, almost as well as your first meeting with Mr. Big: you almost got us shot!" Nick retorted.

"Looks like we have a problem with our bosses." Judy chuckled.

"Yup. Look... I was wondering... we are friends, right?"

"Uhm... duh. Why?"

"Well, as Wolfster said, I am new around here, haven't been around the city for two years, so a good friend should show me around, shouldn't she?"

"yeah, I guess so." Judy agreed with a smile.

"Great! Because when I was dangling outside that window I couldn't help but notice a new restaurant near Cactus Grove which look really nice!"

"Wait! Are you telling me you really enjoyed the view while your life was at stake?!" Judy asked, uncredulous.

"Hey, it's not like there was much I could do while I waited for my Bunny Charming to come rescue me!" Nick shrugged, and they both burst out laughing.

 **ARC HQ, PARKING GARAGE, 4;00 PM**

Bellwether looked at her watch, and huffed.  
She had been sitting in her car for ten minutes, waiting for her to show up.  
Finally, the passenger door opened, and an arctic vixen sat next to her.

"So, how did it go?" Skye asked.

"Wolfster agreed on letting Wilde be part of the team, as you wanted." The sheep replied.

"Good." The vixen replied with an amused chuckle.

"But are you really sure this is a good idea? What if he starts to meddle in things he is shouldn't?" Bellwether expressed her worries about the vixen's idea.

"Trust me, is better that way: we'll be able to keep him on check more easily." She smirked.  
"Or you don't trust me anymore?" She asked with fake disappointment, leaning toward the sheep.

"N-No, I trust you." Bellwether quickly replied.

"Good sheep." Skye said, booping Bellwether's nose with one claw.  
Then, she left the car, and the sheep relaxed a bit.

She didn't like predator in general, but that vixen was even worse than the others, and was uncollared too.  
"You won't need her for much longer, Dawn." She said to herself. "Just a little more, and all predator will pay."

 **NEXT TIME:** Judy and Nick travel to Bunnyburrow to help and old friends of hers who has been accused of being a murderer; Nick is convinced that a creature is the real culprit, but how can that be possible, since no new anomaly has opened?

* * *

 **NOTES:**

Hi!  
Sorry for the long wait!  
To make up to you, this chapter is longer and filled with guest star!

The character of Jake Hempke is a Primeval refwrence only the most hardcore fans of the show will get.  
Now, instead, I'm going to talk about the creature of the episode: the Precambrian Worms.  
Of course, they never existed, they were made up for the show, but we know very little of the period of time (which made up almsot 90% of the whole Earth geological time!), so I've always found brilliant the idea of the writwrs to play with this fact.  
As Nick and Katy say in the story, we have very few and enigmatic fossil rom this period, and mistly from the end of it, in the Ediacaran Period (the so-called 'Ediacaran Biota').  
The funny thing is, that while I was writing this, scientists have found the oldest fossilised footprint, which were dated back to the Ediacaran.  
Now, this is intwresting because previous to this discovery, it was thought that the first limbed animal appeared in the Cambrian, around 10 million years later, which prooves just how little we know about the history of our planet!  
So, who knows, maybe one day we'll find out tracks of ancient, giant worms...

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, see you next time!


End file.
